I take issue with Gary Rosenblatt’s column, “ADL at 100, Fighting Hatred on the Internet” (Oct. 4), when it made reference to “a crudely made 14-minute trailer highly critical of Islam and Muhammad that set off violent anti-Western riots in Egypt, Libya, Iran and Yemen.”
From day one, it was clear that there was no connection [between the video and] the Libya attack. As far as the other riots are concerned, both the ones Rosenblatt mentioned, and others, there is a connection between Muslim violence and perceived insults to Islam. However, that is the precipitating cause. When people commit violence because of perceived insults to their faith by others far away, the underlying cause is bad values. After all, insults to religious Christians and Jews are a daily feature of American life — they are not even newsworthy subjects. If Christians and Jews acted the same way, there would be no United States left.
Manhattan
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