Backing: N.Y. Jets rookie lineman Oday Aboushi, shown here playing for the University of Virginia, insists he is pro-Palestinian, not anti-Israel. Image by getty images

The Anti-Defamation League came out in defense of Palestinian-American New York Jets lineman Oday Aboushi on Friday following reports on the conservative website Frontpage Mag that he was “a Muslim extremist.”

Aboushi, who signed a four-year rookie contract with the National Football League’s New York Jets in May, is the son of two Palestinian parents who immigrated to New York. Since the Jets drafted Aboushi, FrontPage Mag published two articles charging that he was “a fundamentalist Muslim with radical associations and a heritage that pushes him towards a destructive world of violence and hate.”

On Friday, the ADL came to the defense of Aboushi saying that there was “absolutely nothing in the public record to suggest that Aboushi is anything other than a young American athlete who takes pride in his Palestinian heritage.”

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“Being pro-Palestinian does not mean you’re an anti-Semite or an extremist. The record simply does not show that Aboushi has crossed that line,” read a statement issued by Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.

Aboushi responded to the allegations in a phone interview with the New York Post, saying he grew up with Jewish friends. He insists he believes in a two-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace.

“My family’s been just as shocked by the lies and smears as I’ve been,” . “I don’t think I’m radical at all. I have never done any radical behavior. For the writer to come out and claim that just builds lies on top of the lies.”

For more go to Haaretz

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