RUSSELL'S PICKS: Standing With Muslims To Fight Islamophobia

by Rabbi Marc Schneier

(Rabbi Marc Schneier is the president and founder of The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, whose Chairman of The Board is Russell Simmons. He also currently chairs the World Jewish Congress United States. Schneier was a featured speaker at this year’s Organizations for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Conference on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination.)

What business does an American rabbi have speaking at a European conference about Islamophobia, and what can an Orthodox Jewish leader be expected to say about how to better combat anti-Muslim hatred?

Isn’t it odd that in a world where the common perception is that Jews and Muslims are sworn enemies, a rabbi from the most conservative stream of Judaism would be called on to speak on behalf of Muslims?

These are the questions I found myself asking before embarking on a more than 20-hour trip to Kazakhstan last week to participate in a discussion on Islamophobia at the Organizations for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Conference on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination.

My message to the European leaders was simple: I stand here as an Orthodox rabbi because of the horrendous 2,000-year history of anti-Semitism; the demonization, persecution and often mass murder of Jewish men, women and children. I feel a profound moral obligation to prevent anything like that from happening to any other people.

In my remarks, I invoked the immortal words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., saying that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

I interpret his words to mean people who fight for their own rights are only as honorable as when they fight for the rights of all people. It is in this spirit that I stand in solidarity with the Muslim community in combating anti-Muslim discrimination and rhetoric.