ISNA President To Address Reform Judaism Biennial Event

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A prominent Jewish magazine has announced that the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, will be addressing the Union for Reform Judaism’s biennial, which is being held in San Diego this week. The speech was described as part of “a broader push at the conference to elevate interfaith dialogue with Muslims and Christians.” A previous post has reported on the September address by Reform Judaism leader to the ISNA national convention where he characterized ISNA as a “moderate organization.” According to the magazine, Rabbi Yoffe described the reasons for the interfaith effort:

We feel that American Jews and American Muslims need to sit down together and get to know each other, so you need a congregational component to that, Yoffie told the Forward. It’s not just a matter of bringing together a few rabbis and a few imams.

The magazine also reported that Yoffie is planning to announce a national dialogue and education program that Jewish and Muslim scholars have been developing together. ISNA has a long history of support for Islamic fundamentalism, anti-Semitism, and terrorism but the magazine asserts that it is moving “toward more moderate positions ‘” a shift symbolized by the leadership of Mattson, who is both a woman and a convert to Islam. As recently as last June, a post has described a disingenuous denial issued by ISNA in response to its being named as an unindicted coconspirator in the Holy Land terrorism financing case. However, it is clear that ISNA is attempting to portray a more moderate image as it named Hamas and Hezbollah by name for the first time in its condemnations of terrorism. In November, long time ISNA leader and past-President Muzammil Siddiqi was identified as one of the Muslim Brotherhood linked members of a newly formed organization sponsored by the Muslim World League League, a Saudi organization created for the propagation of Saudi-style “Wahhabist” Islam.

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