The fix was in.
Yesterday, the Constitution was slimed and perverted by a group of Muslim-Americans determined to erect a 13-story mosque and Islamic center a stone’s throw from the spot where nearly 3,000 innocents were slaughtered in the name of religion. It’s nothing to cheer.
Mosque advocates claim that this exercise in religious will and real-estate acquisition was an example of a people flexing their freedom of religion. It was not.
Yesterday’s 9-0 vote by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to deny the soon-to-be-mosque landmark status essentially gift-wrapped the site and delivered it to the venture known as Park 51. This was the latest outrage against those who cry at the thought of seeing an Islamic temple rise atop their loved one’s ashes.
MIKE’S ‘LIBERTY’ CRY FOR MUSLIMS
EDITORIAL: MONEY BEHIND THE MOSQUE
For months, mosque opponents have watched mutely as cheerleaders do everything but stick ball gags in their mouths. Where I come from, that’s called trampling upon one’s right to protest. The right to free speech? If you object to the mega-mosque, you have none.
When the vote was over, a firefighter found courage to shout to commissioners, “Did any of you lose anyone on 9/11?” It was too late.
Critics, including Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, have been demonized as “racists.” And not just by Muslims. Mayor Bloomberg, the mosque’s chief booster, suggested offensively that those who oppose it are dumb Islamophobes.
“The fix was in from the beginning,” said Marion Dreyfus, who wandered outside the Landmarks meeting.
Neighbors have a right to know what the devil is moving in next door. Still a mystery is where Park 51 will get $100 million in construction costs. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf told American reporters the funds will be home-grown — but told the foreign press that money will be raised from Muslim countries. On radio, he refused to say he believed Hamas to be a terrorist group.
I thought people had a right to question authority. That right has been hijacked by the Ground Zero mosque.