Questioning Interfaith Dialogue

Naomi Ragan comment

Jewish synagogues “twinning” with mosques to fight anti-Semitism and Islamophobia?! As if anti-Semitism, the ancient, baseless hatred of Jews, and Islamophobia, the recent, sane reaction to Muslim butchery, beheadings, 9/11 and Mumbai are equal.

Hello, knock knock on your wooden heads!

They gun down rabbis and blow up Torah scrolls. Their Imams spread anti-Semitism all over the world, and encourage the murder of Jews and Christians. And now Jews want to be on the front lines to protect “muslim rights?” You want to ‘give an example’ to Europe on how to open up to sharia law?! Can we destroy ourselves and Israel and Jewish communities all over the world? YES, WE CAN!! And will.

Read this and weep. Or better yet, send a letter to Reform “Rabbi” Laura Geller
8844 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 General Information info@tebh.org

and “Rabbi”Marc Schneier of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding who co-created the Twinning Program, 1 East 93rd Street, Suite #1C, New York, New York, 10128
ffeu@ffeu.org (Tel) 917-492-2538, (Fax) 917-492-2560

Interfaith Dialogue – A Dangerous Road down a Slippery Slope

Susanne M. Reyto, Family Security Matters

I recently attended the pre-event to the new nationwide “Twinning” program, “Confronting Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism Together.” Fifty Synagogues and 50 mosques from around the country met for interfaith dialogue. The program was described as, “American Jews and Muslims, reaching beyond the Middle East conflict, are joining hands to battle prejudices within and against their communities.” While this sounds reasonable, there are potentially more problems than solutions.
 
Anti-Semitism and hostility toward Jews predates the Arab-Israeli conflict and has been around for centuries. Jews have suffered, have been persecuted, yet have never advocated killing, blowing up mosques or sending suicide bombers to Saudi Arabia. Their goal is to protect Israel and its people, to contribute to a better world by their scientific, technological and medical knowledge and to enrich the world with their literary and musical talents.
 
Islamophobia, the fear of Islam, is a newly coined word as a result of words and deeds prior to, but particularly since 9/11. The West is constantly being threatened, not only by radicals but also by Iran’s leader. It is not bigoted or racist to fear their actions.
 

The program was held at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills in cooperation with the King Fahad Mosque of Culver City, both in the Los Angeles area. An additional sponsor was the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, MPAC, which according to their website is “A public service agency working for the ‘civil rights’ of American Muslims and for the integration of Islam into American pluralism.” Their origin was the Muslim Brotherhood but of course that is never mentioned.
 
As an immigrant and naturalized American, I have a problem with such an organization – why should they need such an agency? What civil rights have they been denied? When immigrants arrived in this country before, they simply assimilated and no organization was established to fight for their rights. They accomplished their goals by hard work. I am one of those proud and grateful naturalized citizens.
In her opening remarks, the host, Rabbi Laura Geller, noted, “This is the first time that mosques and synagogues are giving their full support, and we are in this for the long haul.” Then she introduced the Executive Director of the Mosque, Usman Madha who also expressed his hope in his welcome.
“Together, Jews and Muslims can send a message to the purveyors of hate and bigotry.” Then with extended arm and clenched fist he led the 200 or so attendees in a rousing “Yes, we can; yes, we can” – the Obama campaign’s mantra.

The first speaker was Rabbi Marc Schneir of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding who co-created the Twinning Program, and the one who brought the two congregations together. He urged Jews to reclaim some of the passion they invested in the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, and that a similar outreach to Muslims “can serve as a paradigm for Europe,” and perhaps even for the Middle East. He overlooked an important fact, this paradigm created the current European conditions where locals have less rights and protection than Muslim immigrants.

The main speaker was Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, head Imam of the Islamic Society of Orange County, California, and a former president of the Islamic Society of North America. He mentored and helped convert Adam Gadahn from Judaism to Islam. Following his conversion, Gadahn traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to train at Al-Qaeda camps and later became an Al Qaeda spokesman.  
 
Both speakers expressed their hope for better understanding as a result of these interfaith dialogues. But before we sit down to interfaith dialogues, we must establish open dialogue requiring total honesty from both sides.

This may be difficult for many Muslims because according to Islam, followers can say one thing and do the opposite – or, say one thing to us and say exactly the opposite to their people in their language. It is perfectly permissible to lie or deceive as long as you advance the cause. This practice is called taqiyya.

In Koran 3:28,” it is written, “Whoever at any time or place fears their [infidels’] evil, may protect himself through outward show.” Muhammad’s companions said “Let us smile to the face of some people while our hearts curse them.” or “Doing taqiyya is acceptable till the Day of Judgment [i.e., in perpetuity].”

Taqiyya is fundamentally important in Islam and practiced by all sects.

Since Islam is not only a religion but a political ideology, Taqiyya is prevalent in modern day politics in Arab countries. Under these circumstances, how can there be open and totally honest dialogue?

The Temple event was a perfect example. There was no dialogue, challenge or Q and A – only presentations from the podium. These programs must be interactive in order to offer some form of education to the public. Sadly, many Jewish leaders do not recognize the danger of uninformed and one sided interfaith dialogue.

Unfortunately, those Jewish leaders who have or will participate in these programs must be naïve if they don’t recognize that we are often being used.

We offer the other side a platform to twist and transform meanings of their behavior. They sound kind and peaceful – meanwhile, they teach hatred and fill textbooks with inaccuracies. Coming together to fight Islamophobia and anti-Semitism is shameful. They cannot and should not be equated.

Jews have been ridiculed, mocked and were subject of derogatory cartoons, yet they never advocated killing anybody. When Danish cartoons mocked Mohammed, the Islamic community revolted, people were killed, others threatened, and for fear of death, most countries didn’t even dare to publish them.

By their blind participation, the Jewish community allows the radicals to gain strength and support. This facilitates the election of more and more politicians who promote the introduction of Sharia, Islamic law, into our lives. Sharia law is not compatible with our Constitution. It is not a choice, but our duty and obligation to protect our laws.
 
Those who want to practice Sharia law should return to their own country. In the United States our legal system does not differentiate for various nationalities. We must put aside political correctness and use freely the terms, “terrorists” and “Jihad,” because it is our lives, our freedom and our liberty that are being threatened.
 
Having lived under communism, it is truly frightening to see the similarity between the encroachment of Communism into Hungarian politics after World War II and Islamism/Sharia law in this country currently. In 1945 when Russia liberated Europe from the Nazis, they attempted to take over but didn’t have enough support and political strength. Slowly and steadily – just like the Islamic community does now – they established their foothold by replacing small party leaders with their representatives and within three years they were able to build a coalition of parties, eventually winning a majority to rule in 1948. Hungary, my birthplace, and other Eastern European countries have never been the same. All totalitarian regimes rely on brainwashing the uninformed, who are gullible into believing their message.  
 
The Jewish community has always reached out, offered help and assistance to the needy or downtrodden. Once they were no longer needed, they were pushed aside, hurt and even persecuted. It seems that many Jews haven’t learned from past experiences. They still do what is considered to be the right way to heal the world, the practice of Tikkun Olam. There are only 15 million Jews but there are 1.5 billion Muslims throughout the world.  Jews have helped and contributed greatly to the world while some Muslims seem to promote hatred and destruction.
 
While Islam is considered one of the Abrahamic religions, it preaches the opposite of Christianity or Judaism. The Koran says,

    “Unbelievers, I do not worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship. You have your own religion, and I have mine.” (Koran 109:1)

While neither the Hebrew Bible (Torah) nor the Christian Bible promote alienation from people of other faiths, the Koran admonishes the faithful.

    “Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends, they are friends with one another. Whoever of you seeks their friendship shall become one of their number.” (Koran 5:51)

 
We in the West live in democracies, have choices, and allow free religious practice for all faiths, while Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries forbid open worship by Christians and Jews. In most Muslim countries it is a capital crime for a Muslim to convert to Christianity. They believe in death, while we believe in life. To come together and equate our lives, our beliefs and our deeds is not only naïve but dangerous.
 
We know the majority of Muslims are peaceful, but approximately 10%, about 150 million, are radical. Unfortunately, the peaceful, moderate Islamic community did not condemn the attacks prior to 9/11 or since. To mention a few, in 1996 the Khobar Towers incident in Saudi Arabia, in 1998 the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the USS Cole incident in 2000 in the Yemeni port of Aden, or more recently, in 2008, the US Embassy attack in Yemen. After all these they remained silent. Are they afraid to speak out or are they in silent support. They continue to attend their mosques and send their children to schools where they are continuously taught hatred and untruths.
 
It seems inconceivable that so many Rabbis accept this. Are they misinformed, uninformed or worse yet, what is behind it?  They seem to protect those who seek to harm us, threaten our freedom and our lifestyle?

What will it take for them to recognize the problem? Do we need another 9/11? We expect our Rabbis to lead us in the right direction. It is their obligation to protect us and to know the difference between good and evil.

America offers the luxury of living in a dream world, but we need to live in the real world.
 
We must learn from the past and be prepared for the future.
 
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Susanne M Reyto is a speaker and award winning author of Pursuit of Freedom: A True Story of the Enduring Power of Hope and Dreams. Her horrific personal experiences of surviving Communism in Hungary energize her mission. Her website is www.pursuitoffreedom.com .
 

December 12, 2008 | 16 Comments »

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