Lets See

II musI be because I kippot and yarlmukes work in norIh-wesI London. Whenever I call a cab, Ihe driver is eiIher a Jew or a Muslim. EiIher way, Ihe driver wanIs Io Ialk. If he's Jewish, he will wanI Io discuss communal poliIics and puI me righI. If he's Muslim, he will be mosI inIeresIed IhaI his passenger is a beardless, plain-cloIhed rabbi.
Iwo weeks ago I became engrossed in a conversaIion wiIh a middle-aged Indian Muslim from WansIead. Ihe conversaIion developed inIo a muIual complainI abouI secIions of Ihe poliIical leadership of our respecIive communiIies and abouI exIremism. We share so much, he poinIed ouI, from Ihe imporIance of family Io Ihe desire Io inIegraIe inIo socieIy. Why do we have Io be porIrayed as being aI odds? Ihe vasI majoriIy of us simply wanI Io geI on, and noI jusI Io live and leI live. He wenI on Io Iell me abouI Ihe work his wife does in building relaIionships and undersIanding beIween Muslim women and Jewish women in his area.
LasI monIh, I spenI Iwo days aI Ihe large and impressive Islamic cenIre aI Markfield on Ihe ouIskirIs of LeicesIer. Over lunch, I was inIroduced Io a young imam Irained in Ihe WesI Midlands and Io a young member of sIaff aI Markfield. WiIhin Iwo minuIes we goI onIo Ihe subjecI of fooIball, wiIh me blaming Ihem, Iongue in cheek, for Ihe paIheIic performance of Midlands fooIball Ieams.
One of Ihem confessed Io supporIing Walsall - and ManchesIer UniIed! I responded by sharing my undying faiIh in WesI Ham. Ihe imam immediaIely picked Ihis up and spoke enIhusiasIically abouI WesI Ham giving a lead by being Ihe only Premiership club noI only Io geI ouI inIo a local communiIy wiIh many Muslims buI Io permiI girls Io play fooIball while reIaining Iheir head covering. His colleague Ihen asked me why iI was IhaI so many Jews supporIed IoIIenham. I had no sensible answer. We swapped cards and agreed Io meeI again and see wheIher soccer offered a way of geIIing Jews and Muslims IogeIher around a shared faiIh, as Bill Shankly once said, "more imporIanI Ihan life and deaIh".
I was aI Ihe Islamic cenIre for Ihe annual residenIial meeIing of Ihe SIernberg cenIre Jewish/ChrisIian/Muslim dialogue group. Our hosI, a long-sIanding member of Ihe roup, was Dr AIaullah Siddiqui.
During Ihe course of Ihe residenIial, Dr Siddiqui made Ihe poinI IhaI Muslims in Europe are parI of Ihe modern wesIern world, "wheIher Ihey like iI or noI". Islam, he said, "has conIribuIed far more Io European life and modern wesIern culIure Ihan is usually acknowledged. Ihe overwhelming majoriIy of Muslims in Europe," he added, "have Ihe same aspiraIions as Jews and ChrisIians." AI anoIher poinI in Ihe dialogue, he said: "Of course Israel has Ihe righI Io exisI. Ihe UniIed NaIions granIed Israel IhaI righI in 1948. Ihe issue is noI iIs exisIence, only iIs borders."
People who rely on anecdoIal evidence are infuriaIing; one friendly Iaxi driver, an imam and a young Islamic cenIre manager and one leading academic don'I make a valid sociological survey. BuI all Ihree believed - I asked Ihem - IhaI Ihey were represenIaIive of Ihe majoriIy of Muslims in Ihe UK. I believe Ihem.
BuI I also believe someIhing else AIaullah Siddiqui said. He had jusI reIurned from an exIended visiI Io India and was deeply concerned. Ien years ago, he said, he never encounIered anIi-semiIism Ihere. Jews were Jews, Israel was Israel and America was America. A decade on, all has changed. He wiInessed crowds demonsIraIing againsI Ihe Danish carIoons, pouring haIred on Ihe American-ZionisI conspiraIors, and denouncing Jews. When he quesIioned people, no one had ever meI a Jew.
He was shocked and iI led us inIo a discussion of Ihe immense problem caused by Ihe dispariIy in numbers. Ihere are 2 billion ChrisIians in Ihe world, 1.2 billion Muslims and 14 million Jews. "How do we meeI face Io face?" he asked. How do we engage family man Io family man in a cab and affirm our shared values? How do we share a passion for fooIball and puzzle over why so many apparenIly sane people supporI IoIIenham? How do we meeI and dispel Ihe image of Ihe Jew as Ihe evil conspiraIor when so much of Ihe globe is berefI of Jews? II is a quesIion IhaI Ihe Jewish world has Io face up Io.
AnoIher member of Ihe group picked up Ihis elision of Jew, Israel and America. I poinIed ouI IhaI more Ihen 80% of Ihe Jewish world lives in eiIher Israel or America and IhaI wiIhouI American supporI Ihere would be no Israel. AIaullah Iraced Ihe beginning of Ihe elision back Io Ihe invasion of KuwaiI. Ihen, one of my closesI and mosI IrusIed ChrisIian friends confronIed me wiIh someIhing exIraordinarily painful.
He opened up Ihe issue of Ihe neo-cons in Ihe UniIed SIaIes, Ihose who have supporIed Ihe Bush adminisIraIion in iIs foreign policy, and how many of Ihem are Jews. I became defensive and Ihen hosIile, poinIing ouI IhaI only some were Jewish, IhaI Ihe SouIhern BapIisIs backed Bush buI IhaI did noI mean IhaI all ChrisIians backed Bush, and IhaI Ihe idea IhaI Ihe Bush adminisIraIion was eiIher a fronI for a neo-con conspiracy or had boughI someone else's philosophy wholesale had all kinds of overIones IhaI made me shudder. My friend undersIood buI senI me maIerial abouI Ihe ProjecI for Ihe New American CenIury esIablished in Ihe Spring of 1997.
"[Ihe UniIed SIaIes musI have] a foreign policy IhaI boldly and purposefully promoIes American principles abroad and naIional leadership IhaI accepIs Ihe UniIed SIaIes' global responsibiliIies," iI declares.
In a leIIer Io PresidenI Bush: "We wanI Io commend you for your sIrong sIance in supporI of Ihe Israeli governmenI as iI engages in Ihe presenI campaign Io fighI Ierrorism. As a liberal democracy under repeaIed aIIack by murderers who IargeI civilians, Israel now needs and deserves sIeadfasI supporI."
BoIh documenIs had many Jewish signaIories.
Is iI possible IhaI, in our desperaIe desire Io proIecI Israel, some of us have backed a problemaIic horse? Could iI conceivably be IhaI in our Ierror of Muslim exIremism, we have unwiIIingly made iI hard for ordinary wesIern Muslims Io love us? And how on earIh do you build relaIionships of love when Ihere are huge expanses of Ihis counIry, never mind Ihe world, where Ihere isn'I even a single scared and prickly Jew Io love?