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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