Rabbi Michael Lerner. Photo: Facebook.

On Tuesday, the family of Muhammad Ali invited leftist Michael Lerner to speak at the funeral/memorial service for Ali, supposedly — as Lerner writes — “to represent the Jewish people.”

Nothing could be a greater travesty. In an old column, I wrote that Lerner is a man who “lives in his own starry-eyed radical world.” If you think this is not true, simply go to the many links Lerner provides and read what he has written over the years.

In my 2002 column, I called out Lerner for his views on how American Jews should relate to Israel. The column is still relevant because, if anything, Lerner’s views have gotten much worse. In discussing how Israel should respond to terrorist attacks against it by Palestinians, he falsely presents himself as a moderate — not as part of the emerging pro-Palestinian, left-wing protest movement. He is, he assures us, “outraged” by the “immoral acts of Palestinian terrorists.”

What does he suggest Israel do about it? Should they fight back? Lerner just gives a new dose of moral equivalence by using the same language he has scolded the Palestinian terrorists with and applying it to Israel. He writes, in as good an example of the sordid use of moral equivalence as any ever used:

Lerner believes that two equally immoral policies cancel each other out. Therefore, an Israeli military response simply compounds the immorality, making Israel the guiltier party.

In 2002, as Cantor Bob Cohen wrote, Lerner backed “the anti-American and anti-Israeli five-term congresswoman from DeKalb County, Georgia, Cynthia McKinney.” Lerner did this along with Nation of Islam chief Louis Farrakhan.

Has Lerner changed since 2002?

This article was originally published by PJ Media.