The "Man Behind the Anti-Shariah Movement" Does Not Speak for Jews; Jewish Response Reacts to New York Times Article

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Aug. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On July 30, 2011, the New York Times, in its continuing effort to spotlight Jewish people and the Jewish religion as the driving force behind all things controversial, published an article by Andrea Elliott entitled, "The Man Behind the Anti-Shariah Movement" which points to a " little-known lawyer, David Yerushalmi, a 56-year-old Hasidic Jew, with a history of controversial statements about race, immigration and Islam," as  that man; thus giving the impression to thousands of readers of that publication that this individual, who is in fact acting on his own beliefs, represents the position of the Jewish Community when in reality nothing could be further from the truth.

"The Jewish people were exiled from the Holy Land and commanded to follow and respect the laws of the countries in which they reside," said Rabbi Yoel Klein, of Jewish Response. "To give the impression that the Jewish community has taken a position to support or to oppose Shariah is misleading and damages relations between Jews and Muslims and is an outright fallacy. Authentic Jews follow the laws of their country as established by lawmakers for the good of all people."

An earlier New York Times article by Jennifer Peltz published on December 26, 2008 entitled " Jews Fear Madoff Case Stokes Hate" also attempted to divert attention from the actions of an individual into an issue of Judaism and anti-Semitism. (See http://www.jewishresponse.com/blog/client/index.cfm/2008/12/31/Madoffs-Securities-and-Investment-Fraud).

For more information visit  www.jewishresponse.com.

About Jewish Response:

Jewish response is a global Jewish organization with the goal of undermining the foundations of anti-Semitism which have led to so many tragedies in the past.

SOURCE Jewish Response