Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
A group of Muslim religious and community leaders from Europe began a week-long visit to Israel on Monday with a meeting in Jerusalem with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
The extraordinary delegation of 15 Muslim imams from several European countries comes amid growing antisemitism across the globe in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel and amid the ongoing war sparked by the massacre.
The unusual mix of Muslim leaders said that they carried with them a message of love for the Jewish people, and voiced the hope that the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza would be brought home.
“We want to see all the hostages home, and also to stop the suffering of the residents of Gaza and live a good life together,” Herzog responded, praising them for their “courageous” visit and voicing the hope that regional peace would soon be in the offing.
The delegation was organized by the ELNET organization, which works to strengthen relations between Europe and Israel. It included Muslim leaders who now live in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and England. After their morning meeting at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, the group visited the Israeli parliament, and toured the Old City of Jerusalem. They are also scheduled to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, meet with Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi David Yosef, tour the site of an Iranian ballistic missile impact in Tel Aviv, meet with Muslim victims of the Hamas massacre, travel to the Syrian and Lebanese border and visit the sites of the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
The Muslim religious leaders recited passages from the Koran at the President’s Residence before concluding with a rendition of Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva, in Arabic.
The extraordinary delegation of 15 Muslim imams from several European countries comes amid growing antisemitism across the globe in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel and amid the ongoing war sparked by the massacre.
The unusual mix of Muslim leaders said that they carried with them a message of love for the Jewish people, and voiced the hope that the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza would be brought home.
“We want to see all the hostages home, and also to stop the suffering of the residents of Gaza and live a good life together,” Herzog responded, praising them for their “courageous” visit and voicing the hope that regional peace would soon be in the offing.
The delegation was organized by the ELNET organization, which works to strengthen relations between Europe and Israel. It included Muslim leaders who now live in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and England. After their morning meeting at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, the group visited the Israeli parliament, and toured the Old City of Jerusalem. They are also scheduled to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, meet with Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi David Yosef, tour the site of an Iranian ballistic missile impact in Tel Aviv, meet with Muslim victims of the Hamas massacre, travel to the Syrian and Lebanese border and visit the sites of the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
The Muslim religious leaders recited passages from the Koran at the President’s Residence before concluding with a rendition of Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva, in Arabic.