Muslim Americans Must Challenge Their Leadership - On Both Sides
"The U.S. will never turn its back on Israel" - former Senior American diplomat "We will not dialogue with the Jews" - Senior Islamic religious scholar.
These remarks, made on opening night of a recent major gathering of American and Islamic leaders in Doha, Qatar indicate both the need for more such encounters and the significant obstacles that stand in the path of their success.
What such comments should do is compel Muslim Americans to take a greater lead in reconciling the two communities of which we are a part.
For many participants in the meeting co-organized by the government of Qatar and the Brookings Institution, the comments crystallize a core frustration of Islamic-American dialogues today: among the current political and religious leadership, neither is much interested in discussing the issues that are of primary importance to the other.
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Muslim Americans Must Challenge Their Leadership - On Both Sides