8 | MAY 25 • 2023
guest column
An Alternative Pathway:
Can We Be Partners with People
Who Hold Anti-Israel Views?
W
hat do we do when
people we wish
to partner with
to create a better Detroit or a
better America harbor anti-Is-
rael views? One approach to
dealing with
folks who are
anti-Israel might
be to cut off
ties with them
after failing to
convince them
of our own view-
point.
Yet, there is an
alternative path.
This is a path
of diplomacy,
partnership and
working col-
laboratively —
despite glaring
differences in the way we view
Israel.
There is — undoubted-
ly — a significant segment
of people in the Muslim and
Arab communities who hold
anti-Israel views. How we go
about maintaining our love,
passion and unwavering com-
mitment for the Jewish state
— while working with these
communities — is nuanced
and complex, and something
that JCRC/AJC balances every
day.
We desire in the Jewish
community for dialogue
and partnership to move the
needle forward. Look at the
Temple Beth El incident in
December, for example, where
a crazed antisemite was shout-
ing antisemitic slurs toward
preschoolers and their parents.
When that incident occurred,
the amount of support and
well-wishes we received from
those in the mainstream of
the Muslim community was
significant.
It is because of the relation-
ships that were developed and
nurtured over time that the
Muslim community is today
an ally of the Jewish commu-
nity. Even if many within the
Muslim and Arab communi-
ties vehemently disagree with
us on Israel, we seek consen-
sus to work on issues here in
Metro Detroit.
There is also the importance
of not writing off those who
sincerely desire a relationship
with the Jewish community.
As long as our interfaith part-
ners have goodwill toward
us as human beings, and as a
community, is it possible to
show the same grace toward
them? If not for individuals
within the Jewish community
and organizations like JCRC/
AJC, those in the Muslim and
Arab communities may very
well have no other interaction
with Jews. This is powerful
when we’re looking to help
shape the way in which other
faith communities view the
Jewish people.
The burden is on those
holding the anti-Israel opinion
to demonstrate that despite
their (misguided) views, they
do not harbor hatred or mal-
ice toward the Jewish com-
munity and that they respect
the pride of the Jewish people.
This alternative pathway is
important in our relationship
with faith communities in
the Detroit area that sincerely
wish to be partners with the
Jewish community.
With vigilance and self-de-
termination, the Jewish com-
munity ought to be wary of
isolating ourselves to the point
of precluding a plurality of
those in the Muslim and Arab
communities. After all, if we
had chosen the path of isola-
tion, how could the Abraham
Accords ever have come to
fruition?
Just a few short weeks
ago, Jews from around the
world opened the door for
Elijah — a symbol of hope
and redemption. At this very
moment, the traditional words
of Sh’foch Hamatcha in the
Haggadah compel us to pro-
test against those who seek to
harm our community. We will
never give up the fight against
anti-Israel bias, the fight for
the survival of the Jewish
community and, for the past
75 years, the Jewish state.
But at the same time, let us
leave that door open for those
who have an open heart.
Rabbi Asher Lopatin is the executive
director and Sam Dubin is the
assistant director/ director of media
relations of the Jewish Community
Relations Council/ AJC Detroit. JCRC/
AJC’s mission is to represent the
Metropolitan Detroit Jewish community,
Israel and Jews throughout the world
to the general community and to
establish collaborative relationships
with other ethnic, racial, civic and
religious groups.
PURELY COMMENTARY
Rabbi Asher
Lopatin
Sam Dubin
Israel@75
As an Israeli native and
the proud daughter of my
parents who came to then-
Palestine in the early 1920s,
I read with the deepest of
interest and gratitude JN’s
extensive coverage of the
75th birthday of the State
of Israel, being that I had
the merit to be there at the
very beginning of the Jewish
State.
The two fateful dates of
the 29th of November, 1947,
when the U.N. General
Assembly voted for the
Partition plan for Palestine,
a Jewish and Arab division
of the land, and the 14th day
of May, 1948, when the last
British soldier left the coun-
try and David Ben-Gurion
read the Declaration of the
Establishment of the State of
Israel, are still etched deep-
ly in my mind, despite the
many years since then.
Thank you JN for your
extensive coverage of this
special milestone of our
Jewish State.
— Rachel Kapen
West Bloomfield
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