Islam and Arab culture are again the focus of bigoted statements and bias attacks. Always accused of being silent about repulsive acts committed by fellow Muslims thousands of miles away, leaders from the NJ Arab and Muslim community recently took a proactive stand  to reaffirm our absolute dissociation with these so-called  “Islamic terrorists” and to express our solidarity with the bereaved family of Paul Johnson.  Islam does  not condone the taking of innocent life as the Quaranic verse says,” If you were to take the life of an innocent man, you will be harshly judged by God as if you have killed all of humanity; if you save the life a person, God will reward you as if you have saved all of humanity.” Sadly, misrepresentation of Islam continues unabated in the media and certain groups in the United States.

The controversy took national prominence when TV’s O'Reilly Factor repeated the ADL’ charges of supporting terrorism instead of stating that that graduating Muslim students planned to wear green stoles on which were inscribed the words of the Shahada. The Shahada is an expression of faith in the oneness of God and is one of the "five pillars of Islam", the essential tenets of the faith. O'Reilly described this act on the part of the students as "...apparently signifying their support for the terrorist group Hamas and for suicide bombers in general." The associate regional director for the Southern California branch of the ADL supported O'Reilly by saying that "To suggest there is only [a religious] meaning is disingenuous at best," and the ADL branch issued a news release referring to the shahada, as an "expression of hate" that is "closely identified" with terrorism and is "offensive to Jewish Students."

The national ADL office recognized the outrageousness and issued an apology, which we welcome. However, we do hope that this signaled a new willingness on the part of ADL to engage in constructive dialogue between Jewish and Muslim advocacy groups.

However, the apology should also be further clarified and improved upon. The actual text of the apology  still conflates the shahada with terrorism. We wish to state that just because some murderous fanatics use Islam to justify their acts, this cannot be accepted to imply that all Muslims need to hide their faith. Anti-Semitic attacks cannot be justified by the acts of extremists like Ariel Sharon, Meir Kahane or the settlers of Hebron and other radical settlers, nor should Jews be ashamed of their religion or ethnicity because of them. Surely, the ADL would not disagree. If the faithful cannot wear the symbols of their respective religions, then God have mercy on America as it enters the Dark Ages.