Interfaith Gathering Backs Al-Marayati

The leader of an Armenian-American organization on Thursday joined a group of rabbis and Episcopal clerics who criticized the reelection campaign of Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale) for questioning whether a prominent Los Angeles Muslim harbored “pro-terrorist sympathies.”

At the same time, Rogan was applauded by the Zionist Organization of America for raising questions about Salam Al-Marayati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Al-Marayati, who said he unequivocally opposes terrorism, appeared Thursday with an interfaith group of supporters at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. Included were Leonard I. Beerman, the rabbi emeritus of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles, and the Rev. George Regas, the retired rector of All Saints.

Joining them was Vicken Papazian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee’s western regional office. Armenian Americans are considered a pivotal voting bloc in the 27th Congressional District.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel what was said and what was done was inappropriate,” Papazian said.

The Armenian group has supported Rogan in the past, but the congressman’s campaign expects this year it will back his challenger, state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank).

On Tuesday, Rogan’s campaign manager, Jason Roe, said Al-Marayati “seems to be an apologist for Muslim terrorists.” He also said it was “odd that Sen. Schiff would feel comfortable, especially as a Jew, to be participating in” a forum on alcohol and crime that was co-hosted by Al-Marayati.

On Wednesday, Rogan released his own statement on Al-Marayati, saying, “I will not turn a blind eye to potential pro-terrorist sympathies in order to curry political favor with any individual or partisan group.”

In a telephone interview, Rabbi Dov Fischer, the president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Zionist Organization of America, defended Rogan.

“As a Jew, as a rabbi, I reacted very positively to what Rogan said,” Fischer said. “We think Rogan did the right thing.”

Beerman, however, said he knew “no one more opposed to violence than Salam Al-Marayati.”

“That he should have been the victim of these unwarranted charges is really a tragic and pathetic thing,” Beerman said.

Also there to defend Al-Marayati were the Rev. Ed Bacon, who is the rector of All Saints, Rabbi Gil Kollin of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, Progressive Jewish Alliance president-elect Douglas E. Mirrell, and members of the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church of Pasadena and the Armenian Apostolic Church of Glendale.