Calling the Ground Zero mosque “divisive,” former Mayor Rudy Giuliani yesterday called on the imam behind the project to drop it — or move it to another location — if he is truly about healing in the aftermath of 9/11.
“This project is divisive. This project is creating tremendous pain to people who have already paid the ultimate sacrifice,” Giuliani said during an interview on NBC’s “Today” show.
“The reality is that right now, if you are a healer, you do not go forward with this project,” said Giuliani. “If you’re a warrior, you do.”
Giuliani insisted that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his partners have every right under local law and the Constitution to build the mosque proposed for 45-51 Park Place, just two blocks north of the World Trade Center site.
“The question is, should they build it? Are they displaying the sensitivity they claim by building it?” he asked.
Rauf has said the proposed $100 million mosque and community center would serve as a bridge between Muslims and other religions. But Giuliani said the project does more to “horribly offend the people who are most affected by this, the families of the Sept. 11 victims.”
He praised Gov. Paterson’s bid to relocate the mosque, saying: “Don’t offend easily 80 percent, 90 percent of the families who are seriously offended.”