For God’s sake, Islam and Judaism can make peace

Abstract

The rift can heal with the help of interfaith dialogue anchored in a deep understanding of Islam’s two contrasting views on Jews and Judaism. »It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.« This opening line of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities is germane to the state of Jewish-Arab relations this year. This has been a period in which, on the international level, Israel and a number of Arab nations established formal
relations, and on the internal level, Israel’s Arab minority seemed to be heading towards full integration within society. Israeli Arabs garnered respect and appreciation for their prominent role in combating COVID and by their outpouring of empathy and tangible support in response to the tragedy at Meron. Suddenly, now, this has all been overshadowed by extensive rioting and attacks against Jews, the burning of homes and synagogues, and the firing of thousands of missiles from Gaza. This turnabout has left many bewildered, searching for a way to integrate these contradictory realities and asking what this tells us about
the future. [...]