MPAC Holds Forum on Muslim-Jewish Relations

On Sunday, July 2nd, prominent Muslim and Jewish religious leaders participated in a townhall forum organized by the Muslim Public Affairs Council to discuss the current state of Muslim-Jewish relations.

Panelists—including Rabbi Stephen Julius Stein (Wilshire Boulevard Temple), Dr. Saleh Kholaki (Islamic Center of Southern California), Edina Lekovic (MPAC), and Jaime Rapaport (Progressive Jewish Alliance)—also shared their perspectives on the impact of Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip this week, which has heightened the humanitarian crisis facing 1.4 million Palestinians. 

The event comes one week after Rabbi Stephen Julius Stein’s publication of an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times which underscored the need for authentic engagement between the two communities that is not founded upon suspicion and an assumption of guilt and animosity. As a case study, he reflected on a recent fundraiser held by a prominent Jewish organization which featured Dr. Wafa Sultan as the keynote speaker. Sultan gained vast media attention after she was featured in a debate on Al-Jazeera earlier this year, during which she claimed “the Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations” and “I don’t believe you can reform Islam.”

“As I experienced the fervor sparked by Sultan’s anti-Muslim tirade and stoked by a roomful of apparently unsuspecting Jews,” Stein wrote in the article entitled “Islam’s Ann Coulter”, “I thought: What if down the street there was a roomful of Muslims listening to a self-loathing Jew, cheering her on as she spoke of the evils inherent in the Torah, in which it is commanded that a child must be stoned to death if he insults his parents, in which Israelites are ordered by God to conquer cities and, in so doing, to kill all women and children—and this imagined Jew completely ignored all of what Judaism teaches afterward?”

Dr. Maher Hathout, MPAC Senior Advisor, stressed the importance of maintaining dialogue between the two communities particularly in such difficult times.

“The brutal use of power and collective punishment should be opposed by all sides,” Hathout said. “We should remain committed to maintaining dialogue between our two communities particularly in such difficult times, while simultaneously calling our government to oppose the occupation of Palestinian territories.”

Hathout added the current escalation of violence was not triggered by the capture of the Israeli soldier but intensified after the election of Hamas leaders. Against this backdrop, he explained that the soldier should be treated according to the Geneva Conventions regulations for prisoners of war (POWs) as well as by the ethics of Islam. All speakers on the panel voiced their organizations’ clear opposition to the occupation.

Dr. Saleh Kholaki, who heads up interfaith relations for the Islamic Center of Southern California, shared the Quran’s inclusive perspective on Jews and Christians as “people of the book” and described ongoing efforts the Center has been involved in with Rabbi Stein and other faith communities.

MPAC Communications Director Edina Lekovic and Progressive Jewish Alliance Program Director Jaime Rapaport introduced a new joint program between the two organizations which is intended take dialogue out of the hands of religious leaders and into the hands of members of both communities with the intent of creating authentic and meaningful relationships in which all parties are able to discuss difficult questions surrounding the Middle East without allowing this to define their interaction.

“We will soon debut a new program which is intended to utilize the best of both of our faith traditions, which call on us to be committed to both social justice and civic engagement for the betterment of our communities and our society,” Lekovic said. “We cannot allow ourselves to be defined by events overseas or to hold one another responsible here for what takes place there. Instead, we must allow both our faiths and our perspectives on international events to inform our joint efforts to improve our city and our country.”

MPAC and PJA’s Muslim-Jewish Community Building Program will debut this fall, and will organize local groups of Muslims and Jews to engage in intra- and interfaith dialogue and to work on a joint local issue of interest