Conciliation-seekers are forced to come to grip with Islamist world's, contradictory world-view. Might Westerners evolve to "Two worlds, too far apart to bridge," fast enough to thwart the pursuers of "One world, indivisible, under Allah?"
NY's 'Jewish Week' article (by Walter Ruby) depicts a conciliation turned actualization by attendees of an Evening of Dialogue (28 Oct) between NY's prominent Imam Omar Abu Namous (of NY's Islamic Cultural Center), moderator Joel Cohen, and Rabbi Marc Schneier of the New York Synagogue. Mr. Ruby writes:
"To the evident mystification of the audience, Abu Namous asserted that “the Arabs never rejected independence or sovereignty for Israel in 1948,” and that the Arab states did nothing to pressure Jews from Arab countries to leave for Israel...
Several congregants said afterward that the dialogue left them more pessimistic than before about hopes for Jewish-Muslim reconciliation. “The imam’s words left me feeling that we are even farther apart than I had imagined,” said one woman, “so far apart that we really have nothing to say to each other.”...
Rabbi Schneier said he came away “concerned, frustrated and deeply disturbed by [Abu Namous’] misinformation and misinterpretation of the facts about Israel … He is more extreme in his views than I had understood.”
But he insisted the dialogue was worthwhile. “I could have gotten someone else if I wanted a polite dog-and-pony show, but it seemed to me important for our people to hear what the head of the most prominent mosque in New York City is thinking.”http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=13219&print=yes
13:57 Nov 09, '06 / 18 Cheshvan 5767
(IsraelNN.com) Today, 18 Cheshvan on the Hebrew calendar (Thurs 9 Nov on the Western) marks the 16th anniversary commemoration of the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of the Jewish Defense League, the Kach Party, and Israeli member of Knesset.
Rabbi Kahane was murdered following a speaking engagement in New York City on November 5, 1990.
One of the institutions founded by Rabbi Kahane was the Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea in Jerusalem. It was run by his youngest son, Rabbi Binyamin Ze’ev Kahane, who was also murdered by Arab terrorists, along with his wife Talia, on December 31, 2000.
Rabbi Kahane was interred in Jerusalem’s Har ha-Menuchot Cemetery as were his son and daughter-in-law.
Because mainstream Jewish leadership marginalized Rabbi Kahane for his message to defend against the threat of Islamism, his assasination was dismissed by NYPD and FBI authorities as a product of HIS extremism, not that of the movement behind his killer. Clues in the posession of his assassin were later found to have foretold of the organized terror in store for the west, including the movement and individuals responsible for fostering the destruction of the World Trade Center.
This anniversary is as significant as 9/11 in gauging the West's preparedness to recognize and thwart the threat.
