NY Times Cover-up for GZM Design Features

By Richard N. Weltz

It didn't take long for the Times to catch up. After Pamela Geller posted some architects' renderings of the Ground Zero mosque and interior, Tom Lifson noted here on AT that elements of the design had an uncanny resemblance to a somewhat abstract effect of crumbling stars of Davis and he expressed his disgust at this further element of brash defiance that has characterized the much-publicized plans to build an Islamic center and mosque close by the jihadist "victory" known as Ground Zero.

The Star of David, known also as "Magen David," and also as a Jewish star," has for very long been an iconic symbol recognized worldwide as representing Jews and the Jewish State of Israel, on whose flag it is the major design feature.

Although I didn't fully see the stars as such, my wife's art-trained eye did; and she helped me trace one out on one of the façade design elements that had been shown in close-up - which I posted on the CompuServe Jewish Forum to illustrate a posting about the symbolism of the mosque architecture.

Sure enough, the local forum troll there delved into superficial research to produce a "refutational" disputation to the effect that Wikipedia mentioned that some sort of hexagonal star had once been among the many geometric elements of Islamic art of ancient days.

Uncannily, this very excuse was used as an apologia/coverup in today's (Sunday) New York Times:

A sketch of the façade shows a latticework of white starlike designs, echoing patterns that can be seen in Islamic architecture and decorative tiles across the Middle East.

The design was meant to show "hints of tradition," while the use of modern materials and glass panels would give an impression of translucence and "moving toward the future," Sharif el-Gamal, the project's developer, said in an interview last week.

The Times, naturally, said not one word about the relationship of design elements to the Jewish emblem, nor did it make any reference to critics such as Geller and Lifson who have published negative comments.