Send Page to a Friend Interfaith dialogue enters tough times   By Ted Siefer The Jewish Advocate   In late July, the press – from the Boston Globe to CNN – picked up on a seemingly irresistible story: As Israel and Hezbollah were locked in fierce combat, members of a local Muslim group, the Muslim American Society, met with members of a progressive Jewish group, Kavod House, to discuss the commonalties of their faiths.    Less than a week later, the Muslim American Society was again in the news, only this time in connection with a wholly different set of sentiments. The group was the main organizer of a rally at Boston City Hall plaza on July 21, protesting Israel's incursion into Lebanon. Protesters held signs condemning Zionism and Israeli "terrorism." Essam Omeish, the national president of MAS, told the crowd, "Just like we demand that Hezbollah and Hamas release their prisoners, we also demand that Israel releases the thousands of civilian prisoners that it holds," according to an activist's account of the event. The rally was one of several co-organized nationwide by MAS, including ones in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. that the Anti-Defamation League said were permeated by "support for terrorism and hatred for Jews and Israel." Like many Muslim organizations, locally and nationally, MAS insists that it aims to build solid relationships with other faith and immigrant groups, including the Jewish community. But as Jews and Muslims search for dialogue partners in tense times, the question emerges: Is such pitched opposition to Israel a nonstarter? Margie Klein, the founder and director of Kavod House, said that sentiments expressed at the City Hall rally shouldn't be taken to represent the views of all who are associated with the group. "Our dialogue helped us recognize, speak to and listen to each other as individuals," she said, noting that "I didn't agree with all the signs at the Israel rally." Bilal Kaleem, the associate director of MAS's Boston office, who was at the dialogue group and the rally, said that the purpose of the City Hall event was to urge both sides to commit to a ceasefire, "nothing more – there was no endorsement of Hezbollah." Kaleem noted that the U.S. government has designated Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations, and that MAS does not challenge the designation. Asked if the organization itself regarded the groups as terrorist organizations, Kaleem said, "We don't go into issues of designating terrorist organizations. We leave that up to the government." While recent events have raised MAS's profile in Boston, it is hardly a new organization. According to a 2004 Chicago Tribune investigation, MAS was founded in 1963 by American members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the fundamentalist Muslim group established in 1928 in Egypt that is credited with spawning Hamas. Officials at MAS, which is based in Washington D.C. and has 53 chapters nationwide, insist that the organization no longer has any practical connection to the organization in Egypt and does not support its larger aims – establishing Islamic rule in Muslim lands and, eventually, the world over. Of course, allegations of support for a conservative, intolerant Islamic ideology have also dogged the Islamic Society of Boston, where many MAS events are held; the current director of MAS's Freedom Foundation in Washington, Mahdi Bray, served as the ISB's outreach director. While Boston's mainstream Jewish organizations, such as the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Anti-Defamation League, haven't had dealings with the MAS, relations with the ISB have been problematic. A lawsuit filed by the group against pro-Israel The David Project, along with local media outlets, charging them with spreading false information about the ISB to thwart its mosque project in Roxbury, has led to a de facto embargo on the group. JCRC Executive Director Nancy Kaufman said that the organization is cautious with whom it engages in dialogue. "You have to be very careful not to be used," she said, lest meetings be exploited for public relations purposes. However, Kaufman insisted that despite the mosque controversy, JCRC had "constructive relationships" with many Muslim organizations, such as the Islamic Council of New England and mosques in Sharon and Quincy, and they haven't been undermined by strife in the Middle East. "We had a very open discussion, albeit not all of it in agreement, about what was happening in Israel and Lebanon. It was a very honest and direct dialogue," Kaufman said, referring to one recent talk with Muslim and Christian leaders. The "red line" for constructive discussions on the Middle East, Kaufman said, is recognition of Israel's right to exist. Larry Lowenthal, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee, Boston chapter, agreed with that starting point. Locally, the AJC's primary dialogue partner is Pakistanis with the Islamic Masumeen Center in Hopkinton, a Shiite mosque. "How do we know with whom we are speaking?" said Lowenthal, "We have a specialist in our national headquarters to research any Muslim person with whom any chapter has a dialogue." Lowenthal added: "People with whom we are dialoguing do not necessarily need to share out Zionist point of view to say the least – but need to be good dialogue partners. New England's consul general to Pakistan, Barry Hoffman, who is Jewish, shares the view that Jewish-Muslim relations are strong enough to weather flare-ups in the Middle East. "There's been tremendous outreach by synagogues and by various mosques." "Everyone keeps in mind this is America, not the Middle East," he said.