This article was first Published on July 25, 2019 at – : https://centerforpluralism.com/anti-semitism-seminar/
Antisemitism, the World’s Oldest Hatred.
Wednesday, July 24, 2019, Capitol Hill, Gold Room, Rayburn Building.
Today I attended the 2nd Seminar on Anti-Semitism organized by the USCIRF. A few notes in contrast to the all-day seminar held by the Department of Justice on Monday on July 15. Our Center is committed to religious freedom, Pluralism in religion, politics, society, ethnicity, culture, and workplace.
If you are messed up with Anti-Semitism, you are sure to be infected with misogyny, Islamophobia (Sikh Phobia), Hindu phobia, Xenophobia, and Homophobia. We consider it our responsibility to understand it and offer pluralistic solutions to the media, public, and policymakers. Hence, I attend all programs related to Religious freedom, write about them and take actions when I can. I condemn Anti-semitism and offer educational programs to change people’s hardened hearts and minds as they do not know the pain and anguish Jewish people have gone thru over the centuries. A few references are included at the bottom.
The talk on anti- Semitism at the Capitol Hill was organized by USCIRF and was addressed by
- Hon. Lee Zeldin, Member, U.S. House of Representatives. He is committed to seeing Anti-Semitism lose ground. The congressman expressed concerns for the future of Jewish Children and the harassment they would face; he referenced the story of his daughters and wanted to work for a secure life for them.
- The Honorable Nita Lowey, Chair, Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism, and Member, U.S. House of Representatives – I missed her talk.
- Rabbi David Saperstein, former Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom always offers a balanced pluralistic view. He spoke about the newness of Muslim anti-Semitism, and the insecurity Jews feel with non-stop anti-Semitic slurs in America by the white nationalists. He made a point about Muslims and Jews have had a relatively good history for about 1300 years while Christian Europe was steeped in antisemitism.
- Tad Stahnke, Director of International Outreach, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum spoke about increasing Anti-Semitism in Europe. I showed him the chapter in the book about Anti-Semitism in the American Muslim Agenda. I hope to partner with him about teaching the Holocaust and Genocides to the general public and may be organized the 15th Annual event with the Holocaust Museum. http://holocaustandgenocides.blogspot.com/
- Gary Bauer, Commissioner, USCIRF – He was the moderator and did a great job, spoke less and let the others speak. I appreciate his commitment to religious freedom.
- Elan Carr, the Special Envoy of President Trump to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism listed three sources of Anti-Semitism; White Supremacist, Militant Islam, and the Militant left. He presented that every Jew should be a Zionist, meaning having a desire for the homeland. The world sees Zionism differently than him. He was highlighting the work of the President and the Vice President and their work in this direction. I am not sure if he is aware of the emboldened Antisemitism activity in America since the President took the oath of office or choosing his narrative despite what is going on – and at times, it may be the best strategy to stay on the course and not get distracted. I did that with Sean Hannity.
I wanted the audience to know that there are a few bad Muslims, but too many good American Muslims out there to stand out against Anti-Semitism and most certainly this Muslim. Our group must be the first non-Jewish group in the world to commemorate Holocaust and Genocides event, and we have been organizing the event for the last 14 years. It is an educational program to bring awareness from Atheists to Zoroastrians and everyone in between. The first event was organized in cooperation with the Late Elliott Dlin, Director of the Holocaust Museum in Dallas, Texas.
Thanks to Ambassador Saperstein for recommending the book while I was sharing my remarks. I have addressed this extensively in the book American Muslim Agenda, and chapter 2 starts with an apology to Jews, Christians, and Hindus.
I spoke about the newness of Muslim Anti-Semitism thru deliberate mistranslations of 3 verses in the Quran (while the Quran in Arabic is clean and pure goodness) to create ill-will towards Jews and Christians. It happened after the fall of the Ottoman Empire for lousy political reasons. The criminal translation was done by Mr. Hilali Khan, and there is another one born now who is doing the same stuff and I will stick it to him. A free copy of such a false translation of the Quran was distributed to millions of Christians and Jews, they are repulsive translations and one of the sources of Islamophobia. I urge all my non-Muslim friends to study at least five different interpretations to strike out three wrong ones. What is the right translation? Please check out Muhammad Asad’s translation and exegesis of the Quran, which is near perfect, and the imperfect translations of verses about women are corrected in Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar’s translations.
The other event I attended was at the Department of Justice, an all-day conference on Anti-Semitism on 7/15, and it was not reflective of the majority of moderate Jews in America whom I know.
The Memri group showed several videos where Muslim clerics were spewing hatred for Jews, it was indeed the truth, but only a fraction of the truth. A majority of Muslims condemn antisemitism and are loud about it. The whole truth is that a majority of Muslims are against antisemitism, at least American Muslims and I stand forcefully against anti-Semitism.
I spoke to AG Barr and the Memri people that the attendees must have walked out with ill-will towards Muslims, and it was disappointing to me. Organizations should state the whole fact and work on mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill. Several of us Muslims and Jews are working closely to build the relationships, and here comes Memri to sow the seeds of discord between Muslims and Jews.
I presented a copy of the book American Muslim Agenda to Attorney General Barr, it was also captured on C-Span. I talked to him about doing a program on all phobias, with a focus on Islamophobia. I will call on him and follow it up. May be Gary Bauer will sponsor the first one. I will put together the program.
References:
Holocaust and the Muslim guy – https://www.huffpost.com/entry/holocaust-and-the-muslim_b_4629509
Annual Event- Holocaust and Genocides http://holocaustandgenocides.blogspot.com/
One of the many videos – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uneRYgYfgWI&t=63s
Standing up for Jews – http://standingupforothers.blogspot.com/2012/02/standing-up-with-jews.html
Anti-Semitism and Netanyahu – https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anti-semitism-is-augmented-by-netanyahu-and-trump-jerusalem_b_5a2a6ea9e4b0d7c3f26221b6
Religious freedom and prosperity of a nation – https://centerforpluralism.com/religious-freedom-and-prosperity/
Persecution of Christians and Muslims – https://centerforpluralism.com/christian-and-muslim-persecution/
We are an active participant at the IRF Roundtable. All about us at the home page www.CenterforPluralism.com
Dr. Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, author, and an interfaith wedding officiant. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His book, the “American Muslim Agenda” is about Muslims earning their respective space in the society be it social, religious, cultural or political. The book is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kindle. Mike’s mission is to open people’s hearts, minds, and souls towards each other. He believes that the ultimate purpose of humans is to live freely and be comfortable with their culture, race, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, politically and individuality. He is president of the Center for Pluralism committed to pragmatic education and practices to restore America to its pluralistic values. More about him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeghouse/ and the attachments.