MUSLIM COUNCIL'S BIAS ALL TOO CLEAR.

Byline: DAVID A. LEHRER AND JOE R. HICKS Local View

SECRETARY of State Condoleeza Rice described the current crisis in the Middle East as a ``clarifying moment,'' when we see who our friends are and who is willing to take a stand against nihilistic purveyors of death. She was referring to the international scene, but it was an accurate description of the domestic arena as well.

The actions of Hamas and Hezbollah have clarified their intentions. These terrorist groups would rather focus on the elimination of Israel than concentrate on the betterment of their own people.

The Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council has also offered us a moment of lucidity. Last month, the group convened several of L.A.'s religious leaders at what MPAC called an ``interfaith vigil to end the occupation.''

According to an MPAC press release, Salam Al-Marayati, the council's longtime head, convened the vigil with the Rev. George Regas of Pasadena's All Saints Episcopal Church, Rabbi Leonard Beerman of Leo Baeck Temple and Dr. Maher Hathout, chairman of the Islamic Center of Southern California -- all decent, well-meaning leaders with impeccable liberal credentials.

Their backgrounds make the substance of MPAC's statement doubly distressing. MPAC's press release says not one word about how today's crisis came to be -- no condemnation of Hamas, nor Hezbollah, nor of the kidnappings, nor of the indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations nor of the brazen provocation of war.

In the press release, however, MPAC decries the United States for its ``poor moral leadership.''

There is paragraph after paragraph condemning Israel's ``brutal violence,'' its ``indiscriminate harm enacted upon innocent civilians,'' the ``horrifying violence which betrays a fundamental respect for the sanctity and equality of all human life,'' the ``illegal Israeli aggressions'' and on and on and on.

For MPAC, which wants to present itself to the community as a moderate and reasonable voice, this kind of heated rhetoric is, frankly, self-destructive. It has betrayed an agenda and outlook that is neither moderate nor reasonable.

In fact, MPAC has become so brazen that its statement presumes to instruct the media on how to report about the current crisis: ``MPAC calls upon all those who are engaging in an analysis of the current situation to cease the use of Islamic terminology to explain the very clearly political narrative.''

Huh? Are the media to ignore the clear rhetoric and platforms of Hamas and Hezbollah -- platforms that are undeniably religious, Islamic and laden with hate?

Ironically, the extremism of MPAC and those associated with its vigil have not resulted in their being ostracized from the mainstream of L.A.'s leadership. In September, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California will honor Al-Marayati, as well as two of the participants in the vigil, Rabbi Beerman and the Rev. Dr. Regas, with its Religious Freedom Award. It must be a narrow definition of ``religious freedom'' that is being celebrated.

In moments of clarity, we ought to benefit from the insights we are offered and draw the appropriate conclusions as to who stands for what and who our real friends are.