Seeking to Advance Muslim-Jewish Relations
Seeking to Advance Muslim-Jewish Relations: Selected Highlights
Seeking to Advance Muslim-Jewish Relations: Selected Highlights
The American Jewish Committee has demonstrated a profound
commitment to enhancing relations between Jews and Muslims, a
vital part of its fundamental dedication to the promotion of
interreligious understanding in the United States and around
the world. Rejecting the inevitability of a "clash of
civilizations," AJC has instead insisted on the possibility
of a "community of civilizations" by encouraging dialogue on
the highest levels with like-minded groups committed to
fostering tolerance and cooperation. In so doing, we have
achieved a number of breakthroughs in this vital arena.
Ongoing Activities
Political and diplomatic outreach to Arab and Muslim leaders worldwide
For well over a decade, AJC has dedicated itself to forging
significant relationships with Arab and Muslim leaders around
the world.
AJC has traveled extensively in the Muslim world - from
Morocco to Mauritania, through the Middle East and the Gulf
states, to Indonesia. We have met with scores of Muslim leaders,
including top officials of Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia,
Bosnia, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, and Indonesia, to discuss
topics ranging from relations with Israel and the United
States to the promotion of international Muslim-Jewish
dialogue.
Reaching out to Muslim communities in the United States
As part of a proud tradition of extensive intergroup and
interreligious work, AJC's chapters have worked in cities around
the country toward advancing Muslim-Jewish ties. Chapters have
been at the forefront in responding to hate crimes and in pressing
for local legislation to deter them. In addition, chapters have
played an important role in preparing and following up on national
conferences and meetings with Muslim leaders and academics.
Several chapters have also visited Muslim countries to learn
about their traditions and cultures and to help represent American
Jewish viewpoints. Timeline
1985-1986 Condemning scapegoating
AJC forcefully condemns the October 1985 murder of Alex Odeh,
director of the Santa Ana branch of the Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee in a bomb attack.
In a public statement, AJC executive director David Gordis
condemns the singling out and defamation of any group within
America. "Violence has no place in the American body politic, no
matter what the political cause. The rule of law must protect the
Constitutional right of free expression for all Americans,
whatever their beliefs or opinions."
AJC meets with FBI director William Webster, urging vigorous
steps to identify and prosecute those responsible for the attacks
and endorsing better protection of Arab-American organizations by
law enforcement officials in the face of threats. In tandem with a
coalition of ethnic and religious organizations, AJC also publishes
expressions of concern in an ad in The New York Times.
On July 16, 1986, AJC takes the issue to the Subcommittee on
Criminal Justice of the U.S. House of Representatives, where it
submits testimony on the subject of ethnically motivated attacks
against Arab-Americans. AJC advocates for the importance of local
legislation on hate crimes and the development of standardized
local and national statistics.
1991 Condemning scapegoating
AJC issues a public warning about the potential breaching of
civil liberties of Arab-Americans at the start of the Gulf War and
speaks forcefully and unequivocally against attacks on Muslims
within the U.S. "We are ever mindful of what happened to
Japanese-Americans as a result of war hysteria shortly after Japan
attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941," writes executive director David
Harris in the statement. "Some 120,000 Japanese-Americans,
two-thirds of whom were American citizens, were evacuated and
incarcerated in internment camps�without any evidence whatsoever
that they were a threat to U.S. security. This must not happen again."
1992-1995 Urging action in Bosnia
In a series of letters and public statements from 1992 to 1995
and in numerous meetings with U.S. and foreign officials, AJC urges
NATO intervention in Yugoslavia in order to prevent further mass
killing of Bosnian Muslims and help bring an end to the continued
violence in the region.
In an "Open Letter to World Leaders," AJC and two sister agencies
lament the "the existence of Serbian death camps in which humans,
forcibly incarcerated because of their ethnicity, are once again
being systematically slaughtered" and urge the United States and
the international community to act without delay.
AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human
Rights (JBI) plays a vital role in strengthening the human rights
voice within the international community. In 1993, JBI director
Felice Gaer leads a fact-finding mission to the region to document
ethnic cleansing and related human rights abuses, including
importantly sexual violence against women. In the following year,
Gaer travels with the United Nations Association to assess official
UN peacekeeping efforts in all parts of the area. JBI works
extensively with the UN to ensure that those who perpetrated crimes
in the former Yugoslavia be brought to justice and to help educate
the public on the complex legal and ethical issues involved in this
historic endeavor. Its involvement with the UN War Crimes Tribunal
dealing with Bosnia and neighboring countries extends to this day.
AJC helps to build and set the agendas of a number of powerful
coalitions around the issue of Bosnia. From 1993-1995, AJC and JBI
issue numerous letters and statements with coalitions of diverse
major religious and human rights organizations, laying out specific
proposals for action.
1993 Condemning scapegoating
In the wake of the March 9 car bomb at the World Trade Center,
AJC issues a statement warning against a potential backlash of
anti-Arab and anti-Muslim violence in the United States. "Those who
would implicate an entire people or religion because of the
accusations against a few add grievous insult to murderous injury.
Therefore, we call on all Americans of goodwill to denounce any
form of ethnic, racial or religious scapegoating."
1993 Expressing solidarity with Muslim victims of hate in Germany
AJC executive director David Harris and director of community
services Eugene DuBow travel to Germany for the sole purpose of
attending the June 3 funeral at a mosque in Cologne of five Muslim
victims of the hate-inspired firebombing of a house in Solingen a
few days earlier.
"I am neither a Turk nor a German nor a Muslim, but an American
Jew profoundly concerned with the evil of crimes inspired by hatred
based on so-called 'differentness' or 'otherness' wherever they may
occur," says Harris in his public comments. "I stand with you today
on behalf of the American Jewish Committee�. As we are taught in
Judaism, we are all - all of us - created in God's image."
1993 Promoting Muslim-Jewish understanding in the United States
AJC co-sponsors the first ever national conference on "Muslims
and Jews in North America: Past, Present and Future" with the
Institute for Islamic-Judaic Studies at the University of Denver in
October. Academics and experts from major American universities,
including Princeton, Howard, Syracuse, Colorado, and Syracuse, as
well as from Tel Aviv University, join for groundbreaking discussions.
"It is time for Muslims and Jews alike to speak out boldly and
honestly to each other, to come to know and understand each other
as people and not as spiritual abstractions," says Rabbi A. James
Rudin, AJC interreligious director, at the conference.
1994 Promoting Muslim-Jewish understanding in the United States
AJC sponsors a second national conference to foster understanding
between Muslims and Jews entitled "Women, Families, and Children in
Islamic and Judaic Traditions" at the University of Denver. The
conference focuses on issues of commonality between the religions
and cultures.
[A third national conference, however, is cancelled when
irreconcilable differences emerge over a spate of deadly terrorist
attacks against Israeli targets.]
1995 Condemning scapegoating
Following the April 19 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building
in downtown Oklahoma City, AJC issues a statement warning against
any prejudgments about responsibility for the attack and condemns
incidents of violence toward Arab and Muslim Americans.
1995 Forging contacts with the Muslim world
AJC becomes the first Jewish group to be invited on a diplomatic
visit to Kuwait to meet with the foreign minister and other officials.
Contact with Kuwait dates back to the Gulf War, when AJC vigorously
supported U.S. efforts to oppose Iraqi occupation. In 1994, AJC had
hosted a meeting with visiting members of Kuwait's National Assembly
to discuss concerns about Kuwaitis missing since the Gulf War and
suspected of being held in Iraq.
In 1995, AJC also becomes the first American Jewish group to visit
the moderate Arab states of Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain and encourage
the growing dialogue with the West.
Jason Isaacson, director of AJC's Office of Government and
International Affairs, maintains close, ongoing contact with
high-level members of the government of these and other moderate Arab
and Muslim states.
1995-present Engaging in dialogue with Muslim influentials
Starting in 1995, AJC becomes a frequent stop for visiting
delegations of Muslim clergy and Arab intellectuals on U.S. State
Department-sponsored visits to the United States to study American
pluralism.
1996 Aiding Muslim refugees
AJC takes a special interest in the welfare of a former senior
Muslim government official forced to flee with his family from Sudan,
offering needed aid for resettlement.
1996-2000 Forging contacts with the Muslim world
AJC representatives are invited to address the Diplomatic
Institute of the Egyptian foreign ministry on a number of occasions
to discuss Arab-Israeli relations and the status of Muslim-Jewish
dialogue worldwide.
1999 Promoting Muslim-Jewish understanding in the United States
AJC holds meetings to launch an important relationship with the
Islamic Supreme Council of America, a moderate American Muslim
organization headed by Sheikh Kabbani.
1999 Aiding Muslims in Kosovo
A high-level AJC delegation travels to Macedonia at the start
of the Kosovar refugee crisis to bear witness and show solidarity
and support for Muslims forced to flee their homes. AJC draws
attention to the plight of the refugees through ads in The New
York Times depicting the children of Kosovo. Over $1.2 million
is raised for humanitarian aid, which AJC directs in its entirety
toward alleviating the plight of the refugees.
AJC publicly supports NATO's action against Serbian troops as a
necessary last means of defending Albanian Muslims persecuted in
Kosovo. In ads in The New York Times, International Herald
Tribune, and New Republic, AJC states: "With determination and
courage, NATO weighed the difficult choices and chose to act -
because it was right, because the alternative would give tyrants a
green light to terrorize civilian populations and destroy the
fabric of international order."
1999 Forging contact between Israel and the Muslim world
Due to its high standing and legitimacy in the Muslim world,
AJC is able to arrange the first-ever meetings between the Israeli
and Malaysian and Israeli and Tunisian foreign ministers. (Israel
does not have formal relations or contacts with either of these
countries.) Not infrequently, AJC has served to help facilitate
communication between Muslim nations and Israel or Jewish leaders.
1999 Providing Turkish earthquake relief
Following the devastating earthquake in Turkey in the summer
of 1999, AJC raises $800,000 for humanitarian relief. The money is
used to rebuild a school and construct a clinic in the areas of
Adapazari and Duzce - both devastated by the earthquake. AJC
executive director David Harris joins Turkish Prime Minister
B�lent Ecevit and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the
dedication of the school.
"We, the Jewish people, have chosen to stand with you, our
friends, in your darkest hours, just as you have chosen to stand
with us on more than one difficult occasion in our own history,"
says Harris. "We have chosen to be friends, not only on the nice
days but on the rainy days as well."
2000 Forging contacts with the Muslim world
AJC and its partner organization, the Australia/Israel and
Jewish Affairs Council, go on an historic joint visit to Indonesia
to meet with President Abdurrahman Wahid and other top officials
to discuss a possible opening of lines of communication with
Israel and the advancement of interreligious dialogue, among other
pressing subjects.
2001 Promoting Muslim-Jewish understanding
AJC's Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Institute for Interreligious
Understanding releases two pathbreaking volumes designed to advance
understanding between Muslims and Jews worldwide. One of the books,
entitled Children of Abraham: An Introduction to Judaism for
Muslims, by Professor Reuven Firestone, a scholar of Islam at
Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, presents Judaism to Muslim
readers.
The second book, by Muslim scholar Khalid Duran, subtitled An
Introduction to Islam for Jews, seeks to enhance Jewish
understanding of Islam.
The books are praised by many experts in the field, including
the Crown Prince of Jordan, who calls it "a courageous initiative
to promote understanding, wisdom and brotherhood between the Jewish
and Muslim communities in the land, which is holy to both of them
- and around the world."
2001 Advancing Muslim-Jewish Relations in Germany
AJC's Berlin Office hosts a pathbreaking meeting with Turkish
politicians and leaders of major national Turkish social and
religious organizations in Germany to discuss common challenges of
the Turkish and Jewish communities.
2001 Condemning scapegoating
Following the attack on America by Osama bin Laden's terrorist
forces, AJC issues a statement condemning stereotyping and racist
action.
The statement reads: "The catastrophic terror inflicted on
American soil must not become an occasion for stereotyping or
scapegoating.
"Jewish history makes us painfully aware that, too often, times
of crisis provide opportunities for expressions of bigotry.
"An entire people or religion should never be implicated because
of the heinous crimes committed by some of its members. We call on
all Americans of goodwill to denounce any form of ethnic, racial or
religious intolerance and reaffirm the American spirit of pluralism
and openness."
Compiled by Rebecca Neuwirth, October 11, 2001
