Points of Jew

Muslim views on Jews

SomethingJewish.co.uk reports:

Sad but not surprised say Jewish community leaders following the release of a poll that asked for the views of British Muslims towards Jews and Israel.

Conduced by Populus for a group of Jewish organisations and first published in The Times, it surveyed 500 people across the country between December 9 and 19 last year, nearly 50 percent agreed with the conspiracy theory that "the Jewish community in Britain is in league with the Freemasons to control the media and politics". while 37 per cent believed that Anglo-Jewry was a "legitimate target as part of the struggle for justice in the Middle East".

Of the conspiracy theory, Board of Deputies chief executive Jon Benjamin said it was "completely bizarre" while he added. "It is concerning to hear that Jews are considered legitimate targets."

Other findings of the poll found:

57 per cent of British Jews have no interest in Palestinian suffering

More than half think it is right to boycott Holocaust Memorial Day

52 per cent think the state of Israel has the right to exist, though 30 per cent disagreed.

Muslim Council of Britain spokesman Inayat Bunglawala told the Jewish Chronicle on the question of Jews being an legitimate target, "completely unacceptable. I just hope people were confused by the question, otherwise it is very disturbing."

Jewish leaders have called for seeking better dialogue with Muslims.

"None of these responses surprises me at all," said Dr Richard Stone who is active in interfaith dialogue and is chair of the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia. "It's a demonstration of how urgently work is needed to being Jews to meet Muslims."

Tributes to Muslim leader

Members of the British Jewish community have expressed shock and sadness at the sudden death on Tuesday of Dr Zaki Badawi, Principal of the Muslim College in London and a well respected religious leader.

As a strong supporter for interfaith dialogue between religions, Dr Badawi, who was 83, was involved in many projects involving Jewish and Muslim communities including the Three Faiths Forum and Vice President of Maimonides Foundation

"I have known Zaki for many years. There are tears in my eyes as I say that he is unique and irreplaceable. At a time when the Jewish and Muslim communities have been put at loggerheads by extremists exploiting the Middle East situation for nobody's gain, Zaki was a rock and an unfailing dialogue partner," said Rabbi Tony Bayfield, head of the Movement for Reform Judaism.

"Dr Badawi was an extraordinary man who showed courage and leadership in reaching out to other faiths and communities. The areas in which he worked and had such a great impact will be the poorer for his loss,” offers Board of Deputies president Henry Grunwald.

Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks offered: "He was a man of conscience and courage and I cherished his friendship."

Children of Abraham seek you!

If you know of any Jewish or Muslims aged 16-18, then let them know about this.

From an email:

The Children of Abraham project is currently recruiting 16-18-year old Jews and Muslims to work together on a Muslim-Jewish Relations Guidebook to Mutual Discovery.

We are searching for 18 exceptional young people (nine Muslims & nine Jews) from eighteen different countries to participate in an historic project. Together, they will create an unprecedented Muslim-Jewish Relations Guidebook to Mutual Discovery. Itwill be distributed to Jewish and Muslim communities all over the world atthe end of 2006.

Applications are due no later than January 20th.
Applicants must be:
- highly motivated
- prepared to engage with the project via the Internet on a daily basis forfour months
- feel comfortable communicating in basic written English with other mostly non-native speakers
- have access to a camera and a willingness to explore their religious community through photography
- knowledgable about their own religious tradition and comfortable serving as a peer educator to those from the other community
- willing to serve as an ambassador for Muslim-Jewish relations both in their own community and abroad

To suggest a candidate, email houda@children-of-abraham.org and copy office@shalomctr.org

Sincerely,Eli Epstein, Chairman Gul Rukh Rahman, Co-Executive Director Ari Alexander, Co-Executive Director Houda Abadi, Director of Education Irfan Syed

Scots Jews and Muslims connect

Good to see some more interfaith dialogue going on between the Jewish and Muslim community. This time, it's in Glasgow, Scotland where as part of an interfaith week.

The Jewish Telegraph reports:

Rabbi Moshe Rubin led a discussion with the imam of Glasgow's Grand Central Mosque at Giffnock Synagogue to celebrate Scottish Interfaith Week. Also present among the 50 guests were Provost Betty Cunningham, council leader Jim Fletcher, Scottish Interfaith Council chairman Diane Wolfson and director Maureen Seir.

Speakers included Dr Kenneth Collins, of Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, and Shakeel Ali, who said he had not been sure about the idea of such a festive event. But having met Rabbi Rubin and other Jewish representatives, he was convinced of the need for such events. He noted the similarity between Muslim and the Jewish traditions and languages.

Let's hope that rather than focus on interfaith dialogue during the week, that this will improve and enhance relations throughout the year. The week should be a focus point, but we need to make more of good relations every day and not just one week in a whole year.

More interfaith work at the Board

Good to see the Board of Deputies take the issue of interfaith dialogue seriously with the appointment of an interfaith officer.

News release on the appointment of Miriam Kaye can be found at JewishPRBlog, but in announcing it, Board chief executive Jon Benjamin said: "The need for the sound channels of communication within the wide spectrum of faiths in the UK is evident.  These contacts should not be confined to high level delegations, but extended to day to day contacts at all levels to explain who we are and what matters to us as a community.”

Also, Miriam seems to have a decent track record having been involved with Muslim-Jewish women's dialogue in Cambridge as well as interning at the Home Office looking at Muslim-Jewish relations on campus.

All, we now need to see from the Board is better dialogue within its own community and much more openness in what it does.

Muslim Peer to address young Liberal Jews

Muslim Peer, Baroness Falkner of Margravine is give a talk on civil liberties at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue (LJS) in St John's Wood in London.

The event on November 3rd, is being aimed at young Liberal Jews in their 20s and is part of an overall series of events under the umbrella 'Ideas Cafe'.

"The point of the ‘Ideas Café’ is to encourage young professionals to examine current affairs and share their intellectual ideas, as well as socialise with each other," said LJS rabbi Kathleen de Magtige-Middleton.

More info on Baroness Falkner, via her own website:

After schooling in Pakistan, Kishwer read International Relations at the London School of Economics and gained an M.A. in European Studies at the University of Kent.  She has lived and worked in the Middle East, the USA, continental Europe, Africa and Asia.  Her background has covered the corporate sector, international organisations and the not-for-profit sector. 

For more information contact Moriah Ibru on 020 7432 1283, or e-mail m.ibru@ljs.org

That BBC Radio 4 programme again...

Having yet again not had the opportunity to hear the BBC Radio 4 programme A War Against Prejudice which made claims that the Jewish Community Trust is alleged to make up some fibs to claim there is more anti-semitism in Britain than there really is, it's interesting to see Blogistan's take on this - not my lack of hearing the programme, but of the programme itself.

A posting by The Neurocentric under the headline A very poor show says:

Listening to this documentary it was impossible to ignore that feeling inside, that the programme maker had begun with a conclusion and had proceeded to build his case around it.

My complaint centres entirely on what looked liked a most imbalanced form of journalism.

What concerns me is that we are likely to turn a blind eye to this sort of journalism – for 1) it does not affect our community and 2) it does affect someone we don’t like very much. Yet as a community that is commanded to speak the truth even if it is against our self, is this the right attitude? I wonder if we would find more success in our campaigns against distorted media presentation of Muslim issues if our own vision were not so closed. If our mission is to fulfil the role of being a mercy for mankind, is it not time that we put aside the dreadful claim to be the chosen people that has crept into our communities and instead stand up as witnesses to the truth?

The Neurocentric does have some good points here. There are areas where Jews and Muslims have much in common and especially as how on occasion the media does have trouble in reporting how we interact in society and are part of British society.

Just like Muslims should not turn a blind eye towards how Jews are treated, so Jews should not turn a blind eye to how Muslims are treated.

Maybe if we managed to get everyday Jews and Muslims to meet up and discuss issues of mutual interest and concern, we can overcome some of the problems we both seem to have for each other.

Let's not leave it to the unelected "leaders" who say they speak for us, they've all had plenty of time to make things happen and generally have not.

We need a British grassroots Jewish and Muslim group that can meet and establish true dialogue between each other.

New Muslim blog launches

Thanks once again to Sunny over at British Asian blog Pickled Politics for sharing details of a new British Muslim blog which has just launched.

Blogistan looks a very promising addition to the blog community.  A posting by founder Indigo Jo says the following:

This is what I intend will be a Muslim group blog for mainstream, orthodox Muslims, offering commentary on both religious and social issues from a Muslim point of view. I also intend that the blog would have a British focus, although not exclusively so. I would like this blog to represent the true, moderate face of Islam in Britain, and be a counterweight not only to unfair representations in the media, but also to certain media monitoring sites run by immature people who (probably unintentionally) regularly show us in a bad light. I also intend that the site would be free of overheated rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and sectarian propaganda.

Blogistan has already started to debate the way the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK) works and how it took issue with a story that appeared in The Independent.

As a fairly good example of the certain hysterical websites run by immature Muslims I've alluded to in posts announcing the establishment of Blogistan, I found on the MPACUK website this morning a good example of what software developers call a "regression"

It will be interesting to see how other issues are discussed and debated there.  One to bookmark.

Offering support to Pakistan - how British Jews can help

So what can the British Jewish community do to help those in need in the wake of what has happened with the earthquake in Pakistan?

BBC Asian Network has published a list of organisations where you can offer support.

The Disasters Emergency Committee has updated its website with information on donating to help with the relief effort in the region.

British Asian blog, Picked Politics also has useful information on how to help:

We would also appeal that people donate to well known international charities who have experience in such relief efforts rather than Kashmir based organisations. Some have been known in the past to divert money to buying arms for their activities.

Professional Jews and Muslims meet up to discuss lending money

A group of Jewish and Muslim lawyers and accountants met up last Friday in Manchester.

The Jewish Telegraph reports:

They were at Price Waterhouse Cooper's building in Manchester's Barbirolli Square for the first meeting of the lawyers' and accountants' sub-group of the Greater Manchester Muslim-Jewish Forum.

The breakfast get-together was organised to hear about the Jewish and Muslim faiths' difficulty with lending money with interest and how believers could find ways around the problem.

Accountant Ed Epstein, of Broughton Park, said: "There is so much common ground it seems we are, after all, brothers and sisters."

Whenever there is some positive Jewish Muslim dialogue going on, Points of Jew aims to share the information. If you know of other events happening, email the details.