Daniel Pearl's Father Opposes Mosque

Judea Pearl, father of the murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, wrote an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post arguing that permitting the mosque to be built near ground zero would “prolong the illusion” that Muslim leaders can gain public acceptance while still allowing the “victimhood, anger and entitlement” that encourages acts of terrorism. The Tel Aviv-born UCLA professor accuses Muslim leaders of failing to condemn terrorism harshly enough and of telling an anti-American narrative, even while saying that America is “the best country for Muslims to live and practice their faith.” He does have a more generous view of Americans: After pointing out that 71 percent of Americans object to the center, he writes that “I cannot agree with the theory that such broad resistance represents Islamophobic sentiments, nor that it is a product of a ‘right wing’ smear campaign against one imam or another. Americans are no bigots, nor gullible.”