may the memory of Ferdinand L. Alcindor being for a blessing!

Abdul-Jabbar's father was a real hero. I love what he told those Germans. As for the 8 year old little boy he became a great Rabbi.

... there's a great story like this one. Kareem Abdul Jabaar's dad's words are eloquent beyond words and the Muslim son's ongoing relationship with that child who became Israel's Chief Rabbi inspires hope. It will be spolied by the fact there's so much hate and anger but it still inspires hope.

The book chronicles an important part of American history ignored in the mainstream. The movie will make that history more widely known. It is a history largely ignored by Hollywood.

My respect for Kareem just increased 10 fold.

You have brought tears to my eyes...

I trust the people of Israel will give Mr. Abdul-Jabbar all the courtesy and respect he deserves, not just as a basketball legend, but as a humanitarian as well.

The late Mr. Alcindor must have been an amazing, caring and lucid person. Mr. Abdul-Jabbar seems to be very much his heir.

a sinister evil intent on our destruction through the multipronged attacks of lies, propaganda, and direct murderous attacks. We are stronger this time, but still outnumbered. Your father was able to see right and wrong Mr.Abdul-Jabbar...we could really use another friend today who will see truth and shout it shoulder to shoulder with am Israel. I hope that you are one of those friends...

I hope the people at Passport Control understand that he is coming as the guest of Israel, and not give him a hard time because he is a Muslim. Please be sure to have a representative of the Foreign Office present when he arrives.

I wonder if Kareem knows that most people in his religion (Islam) like the Nazis also dislike and want to exterminate the Jews. I also wonder if he feels that Israel has any claim to the Temple Mount.

Great and noble undertaking..Bravo! Is being a Muslim convert make you a real Muslim?...or does the combination of the core religion and values make for a new hybrid Muslim identity?...Here is a case of a Muslim being born, educated and raised in the West, free of early age indoctrination and hate as spread in the Arab states and cultures. Would he look at non Muslims being non believers?

My father, Francis B. Capozzi was with the US 6th Armored Division of the US 3rd Army which entered Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. There were NO African-American servicemen entering the camp that day as the 761st Tank Battalion in which Abdul jabbar's father served was many miles away. This is an absurd assumption on the part of this basketball player to state that his father was there at the liberation of the camp. It was in fact my father who began to photograph the genocide and ordered ahead for more film to be delivered. If my father were alive today, he'd be writing this truth.

I know from his interviews over the years he's not of the NOI but of a secular Islam more like a sufi/Ahmadiya that is not of what we see today in regards to terrorism. He like the boxer Muhammed Ali both embrace secularism and have been present at Bahai, Jewish and Christian services (including Hindu). I am glad he's not like others. Perhaps his father would have loved him to become Jewish.

theere are those who hide jews risquing their lives and those who penetrated in the camps like the afro-american or other we have to thank them all

I'm a Bulls fan who grew up watching MJ player, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the greatest player ever. MJ will always be 2nd best behind him.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has canceled his visit to Israel because of concerns arising "after the Nakba Day violence (his words)" where 12 unarmed Palestinians were shot dead and scores of others were wounded. Seems this American athletic superstar has just called a foul on the Zionist experiment. Americans are finally waking up.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/30461/kareem-abdul-jabbar-on-youth-lebron I have heard this amazing tale about your dad and a boy he helped liberate from a concentration camp at the end of World War II. Would you mind recounting briefly the story of Rabbi Lau and your dad? That story -- people have gotten that all mixed up. There was a reporter in Israel who put my father into the tank battalion that liberated Dachau. My dad was a police officer in New York. One of the guys that he was a police officer with was in a tank battalion that liberated Dachau. Rabbi Lau was a boy in Buchenwald, which was also liberated by black troops, but it was a totally different group than the one that my dad's friend was in. The group that helped liberate Buchenwald was the 183rd Combat Engineers, an all black unit. And that's who you wrote the book about? No, I wrote the book about the 761st Tank Batallion. That was the unit my dad's friend was in. They liberated Dachau. The reporter in Israel mixed all of the facts up, and got it all conflated. People were thinking my dad was a lieutenant in the 761st Tank Battalion. My dad was a lieutenant in the New York City Transit Police! And that's how he got to know Smitty, who was one of the liberators of Dachau and other camps. I met Rabbi Lau when I was in Israel in 1997. I just wanted to say hi to him because he had a particular regard for the black Americans that were involved in his liberation. I had participated in a couple of events they had in New York where they had reunited the people what were liberated with the people who liberated with them. Smitty, my dad's friend, participated in that.

Time to tell the truth abouyt things. My father was one of the US soldiers who actually did liberate Buchenwald April 11-13,1945. He was one of the soldiers who documented the genocide with his own camera and film, got medical assistance and food to the survivors, and marched local germans into the camp to see what their people had done. Abdul-Jabbar's father did not arrive in Buchenwalf until 4 weeks later and did NOTHING in the form of liberation nor did they supply any services which weren't already in place.

This is a very moving article. I'm so thankful for Abdul-Jabbar, and his unqualified stand with the Jewish people.