The Coalition of the Fringes against the core.<\/p>\n
Patriotic Americans must be revolted.<\/p>\n
As though it is Trump’s rhetoric that is the poison, not leftist activism and Muslim terror. <\/p>\n
What American Jews need is a movement like Jews for Consistency<\/a> wherein Jewish groups never seek for the goyim anything that they would not want for themselves. Most groups want cohesion but all the major Jewish groups in the diaspora fight for fragmentation and diversity and multiculturalism. <\/p>\n (JTA)<\/a> \u2014 For years, whenever Jews and Muslims engaged in dialogue and activism together, it usually concerned \u2014 or foundered \u2014 on one issue: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n With Donald Trump\u2019s ascent to the presidency, that appears to be changing. Regardless of what\u2019s happening across the ocean, Jews and Muslims in the United States are joining together to fight for shared domestic concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a perhaps growing recognition that [the Israeli-Palestinian conflict] cannot define how American Jews and American Muslims relate to one another,\u201d said Rabbi David Fox Sandmel, the Anti-Defamation League\u2019s director of interreligious engagement. \u201cThe shared concerns we have about prejudice, about bias, about threats of violence, about disenfranchisement \u2014 these are the kinds of things that can bring us together.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday, the American Jewish Committee and the Islamic Society of North America launched the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council, a group of religious and business leaders from both communities who will help draft domestic policy legislation and advocate on issues of shared concern.<\/p>\n The ADL is planning to increase its efforts to provide support for legal and legislative efforts in the fight against anti-Muslim bigotry.<\/p>\n And the Shalom Hartman Institute\u2019s Muslim Leadership Initiative, which educates young Muslim leaders about Judaism and Israel, held a retreat over the weekend titled \u201cLiving in Trump\u2019s America: Muslim Vulnerability and Jewish Echoes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s happened as a result of the poisonous atmosphere that Trump has created is that American Muslims are desperate for allies,\u201d said Yossi Klein Halevi, the Muslim Leadership Initiative\u2019s co-director. \u201cAnd the argument that MLI has made to the Muslim community \u2014 which is that the Jews are, at least in theory, natural allies for embattled Muslims \u2014 now has become compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Jewish and Muslim groups have expressed worry about Trump\u2019s rhetoric, and his supporters\u2019 actions, over the course of the presidential campaign. Muslims have protested Trump\u2019s 2015 call for a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States, as well as his insinuations that Muslims celebrated the 9\/11 attacks and have withheld information from law enforcement about terrorism. Anti-Muslim attacks rose during his campaign, and a string of attacks has followed his election.<\/p>\n And while Trump has not explicitly targeted Jews, Jewish groups raised alarm over his endorsements by white nationalists and online attacks on Jews by his supporters, along with his remarks late in the campaign that echoed anti-Semitic tropes. Jewish groups have protested his naming as his chief strategist Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of a website, Breitbart News, that has been accused of incitement against Muslims and coddling anti-Semitism among its writers and readers. In addition, the ADL decried \u201ca wave of anti-Semitic vandalism\u201d following the election.<\/p>\n In the past, differing stances and sensitivities regarding Islamic extremism or Israeli military action drove groups apart. Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he hopes Jewish groups will be more willing to work with his organization following Trump\u2019s election. Jewish groups, including the ADL, have resisted working with CAIR due to its anti-Israel stances.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always been our position that we\u2019re open to shared and cooperative action with the Jewish community,\u201d Hooper said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really take Donald Trump to spur that. I think it\u2019s created an urgent need for mutual cooperation between all like-minded organizations and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n The newly formed Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council, which has 31 members from both communities, formed shortly before Trump was elected last week. The council will focus on protecting the right to wear religious head coverings, prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, recording hate crimes and advocating for immigrants and refugees, according to Robert Silverman, the American Jewish Committee\u2019s director of Muslim-Jewish relations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a reaction to some of the bigotry and hate speech that came out of the campaign,\u201d Silverman said. \u201cWe\u2019re concerned about the public discourse in the whole country. We\u2019re also concerned about messages that originated within the two communities. The Trump phenomenon is only going to make it come together more quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Jewish activists who have long championed Jewish-Muslim collaboration believe their community is finally coming around.<\/p>\n Rabbi Marc Schneier, co-founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which brings together leaders from the two religions, says he hopes Jews will come to the defense of Muslims if Trump follows through on his proposals to ban Muslims from entering the country, or to create a registry of American Muslims.<\/p>\n In June, Schneier\u2019s foundation launched an initiative called Muslims are Speaking Out that highlights Muslim condemnations of extremism and aims to dispel misconceptions Americans have about the Muslim community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the obstacle of greater Islamophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric,\u201d Schneier said. \u201cThe opportunity is that this is another test for the American Jewish community. Will it step up to the plate, and will it perform as it has done in the past?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Coalition of the Fringes against the core. Patriotic Americans must be revolted. As though it is Trump’s rhetoric that is the poison, not leftist activism and Muslim terror. What American Jews need is a movement like Jews for Consistency … Continue reading