Sharaka
On Friday, Trump said that Riyadh may soon join the Abraham Accords.
One of the trip participants said she was “not surprised to find the complete opposite” of what the Muslim world had told her about the Jews.
“This is an ambitious but not unrealistic project as the balance of power shifts to Asia,” said Indian researcher Yusuf Taher Unjhawala during a five-day visit to the Jewish state.
“I want to educate people that what has been happening since Oct. 7 is not the real Islam,” says Bahraini activist.
The Sharaka NGO aims to build on the 2020 peace agreement.
“It was important to bring this group to see the truth firsthand so that they bring this story to millions of their readers and followers.”
The Morocco-based Sharaka director acknowledges that “like many Moroccan teenagers, I was a victim of propaganda.”
“Arabs also need to fight anti-Jewish propaganda that still exists in their societies,” said participant Amir Al Sheikh, an Israeli Arab Muslim.
This trip sought to change the paradigm of polarization between American Muslims and Jews through education, engagement and dialogue.
Battles with high-profile Pakistani politicians aside, for most of the group, in Israel for the first time, the visit was an eye-opening experience.
“This is crazy what we’re doing. We’re in Auschwitz, a delegation of Arabs and Israelis. I hope that in 10 to 20 years’ time, this won’t be news,” said Rawan Osman.
“Even when politics fail and political deals collapse, we want to have enough of the social and cultural relationships between people so that they always have something to fall back on,” said Chama Mechtaly, an Amazigh-Moroccan activist and artist.