CLEVELAND -- A controversy rages on over ethnic slurs against Jews made 10 year ago by a local Muslim leader.

NewsChannel5 reports that five Jewish groups talked about ways to respond. The slur, which referred to Jews as animals, is believed to be one of the most sensitive and upsetting incidents to hit this close to home in years.

"We feel that his apology was a little belated, really wasn't strong enough," said Louis Malcmacher. "On the other hand, the Muslim leadership, and the mosque issued a very strong apology, which we were very pleased to see. The imam really is an open question to us right now."

The meeting, which was initially scheduled to talk about how the terrorist attacks had affected the local Jewish community, was held at the Jewish Community Center.

Imam Fawaz Damra runs the Islamic Center of Cleveland, the largest mosque in Ohio. Recently, the mosque decided to keep Damra on as its leader.

In the Imam's apology, he said that the views were expressed in youth and ignorance. Damra has been an active leader in interfaith events, especially since Sept. 11.

So far, Jewish leaders say that they're not satisfied with the personal apology made by Damra and they plan to reach out to other interfaith leaders to see where things stand.