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‘I Feel at Home Here’: In the Shadow of War, Moroccan Muslims Visit Israel to Promote Peace
Sharaka delegation visiting Israel. Photo: Courtesy of Sharaka
Ayoub Koulli knew about Morocco’s ancient and dwindling Jewish community through his father, who would speak about his many Jewish friends in Casablanca. But Koulli’s father passed away, taking his stories with him. Eager to learn more about the history of the Jews, Koulli began a pilgrimage which would take him to the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz and eventually to Jerusalem, where he arrived this month with a group of 23 other young Moroccans.
“I feel really emotional being here,” Koulli told The Algemeiner.
The group, called Sharaka, was established in the wake of the Abraham Accords — which Morocco signed — to promote “person-to-person” diplomacy between Israel and Arab countries. During the week-long visit, delegates visited Yad Vashem, the Jewish state’s national memorial to the Holocaust, and other key sites around Israel, including Al Aqsa Mosque. The group also held several meetings with high-tech leaders and Israeli officials, including Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, and former National Security Council adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat who addressed the group in Moroccan Arabic.
Sharaka delegation meeting with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. Photo: Courtesy of Sharaka
The group visited Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, the site of the Nova festival massacre, and the villages and kibbutzim in the Gaza periphery which were attacked by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7.
Sharaka delegation visiting Israeli communities devastated by Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. Photo: Courtesy of Sharaka
Achraf Ibra, 29, said he was in his twenties when he was introduced for the first time to the notion of the Holocaust. “The subject was never mentioned,” he said.
He went on to say that visiting Yad Vashem was a “deeply moving experience” that was also “extremely necessary, especially in this particular context where antisemitism is resurfacing everywhere in the world, even in Western societies that were previously less affected by this phenomenon.”
Sharaka’s executive director Dan Feferman said one of the group’s aims was to educate Arabs and Muslims on “taboo” subjects like the Holocaust. “By learning from history’s darkest chapters, we can become inspired to spread light and tolerance throughout our communities,” he said.
As an artist booker and event producer for music festivals, Koulli was already acquainted with prominent Israeli DJs and as such did not share the same biases against Israelis as some of his peers back home. “Before the trip I believed Israel has the right to defend itself and I still believe that,” he said.
But learning the meaning of Zionism marked a change for him. “Beforehand, I thought Zionism was very radical — it was a bad word for me,” Koulli said.
In May, Koulli joined Sharaka on the annual March of the Living, a Holocaust education program that brings people from around the world to Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi concentration camp in Poland. It marked the first time a pan-Arab delegation participated in a march of solidarity for Jews. While there, Youssef Elazhari, Shakara’s director in Morocco, slammed a small group of anti-Israel protesters who were hurling invectives related to the Gaza war at marchers.
“To counter a peaceful march like that is so f—ked up. I will never tolerate that. And sometimes these people talk in the name of Islam,” he said.
“As a Muslim, I will march with the Jews because I feel that if we don’t acknowledge [the Holocaust], it’s a huge denial of our own humanity,” he said.
The anti-Israel protesters, Elazhari averred, “just missed the logic about humanity.”
For Salah Ghrissi, a photographer and food influencer from Fez, the most significant turning point was learning that Arabs and Jews are equal under the law in Israel, where Arabs comprise 21 percent of the population.
“The biggest myth that was debunked for me was that Arabs do not have the same rights [as Jews],” he said.
Until a month ago, Ghrissi had no involvement with Sharaka and only heard about the trip through his friend, Moroccan singer Hodayah. Ghrissi said he came largely out of curiosity and an urge to see what was happening in Israel on the ground after seeing so much on the news.
Ayoub Koulli and Salah Ghrissi. Photo: Provided by author
“I thought, it’s impossible that a whole country is a ‘baby killer’; it doesn’t make sense. I need to go and see,” he said.
Witnessing the devastation of the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7 was especially impactful. “Standing there and seeing the bullet and grenade holes in the houses was very hard,” he said.
Ghrissi admitted that he paid a social price for his decision and that some of his friends could not understand his motivation for visiting Israel. He acknowledged that they were exposed to only very anti-Israel Arabic-language media. Elazhari, who led the delegation in Israel, admitted that he too used to be a “victim” of Al Jazeera propaganda. For another participant who asked to remain anonymous, the stakes were even higher. “I received death threats,” he said.
A poll published earlier this year by the Doha-based Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies showed that 75 percent of Moroccans consider the Oct. 7 attack a “legitimate act of resistance” and 95 percent categorized US policy on the war as “bad.”
Ghrissi said he lost several dozen social media followers. “I got asked how much Israel was paying me.”
Sharaka delegation visiting Israel. Photo: Courtesy of Sharaka
For Koulli, the way to peace is through cultural exchanges and socializing through music.
“Every night since I’ve been here, we’re getting invited out by different people. Israelis have been so open — even been giving us the keys to their house.”
“I feel totally at home,” he added.
The post ‘I Feel at Home Here’: In the Shadow of War, Moroccan Muslims Visit Israel to Promote Peace first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes near Sanaa airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Israel struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi terrorist group in Yemen on Thursday, including Sanaa International Airport, and Houthi media said three people were killed.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was about to board a plane at the airport when it came under attack. A crew member on the plane was injured, he said in a statement.
The Israeli military said that in addition to striking the airport, it also hit military infrastructure at the ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib on Yemen’s west coast. It also attacked the country’s Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said two people were killed in the strikes on the airport and one person was killed in the port hits, while 11 others were wounded in the attacks.
There was no comment from the Houthis, who have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the attacks that Israel will continue its mission until it is complete: “We are determined to sever this terror arm of Iran’s axis.”
The prime minister has been strengthened at home by the Israeli military’s campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and by its destruction of most of the Syrian army’s strategic weapons.
The Israeli attacks on the airport, Hodeidah and on one power station, were also reported by Al Masirah TV.
Tedros said he had been in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff detainees and to assess the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
“As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa … the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured,” he said in a statement.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” he said, adding that he and his colleagues were safe.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the incident.
More than a year of Houthi attacks have disrupted international shipping routes, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys that have in turn stoked fears over global inflation.
The UN Security Council is due to meet on Monday over Houthi attacks against Israel, Israel‘s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Israel‘s military failed to intercept a missile from Yemen that fell in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area, injuring 14 people.
The post Israel Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Controversial Islamic Group CAIR Chides US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for Denying Report of ‘Famine’ in Gaza
US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew. Photo: Alchetron.
The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for casting doubt on a new report claiming that famine has gripped northern Gaza.
The controversial Muslim advocacy group on Wednesday slammed Lew for his “callous dismissal” of the recent Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) report accusing Israel of inflicting famine on the Gaza Strip. The organization subsequently asserted that Israel had perpetrated an ethnic cleansing campaign in northern Gaza.
“Ambassador Lew’s callous dismissal of this shocking report by a US-backed agency exposing Israel’s campaign of forced starvation in Gaza reminds one of the old joke about a man who murdered his parents and then asked for mercy because he is now an ‘orphan,’” CAIR said in a statement.
“To reject a report on starvation in northern Gaza by appearing to boast about the fact that it has been successfully ethnically cleansed of its native population is just the latest example of Biden administration officials supporting, enabling, and excusing Israel’s clear and open campaign of genocide in Gaza,” the Washington, DC-based group continued.
On Monday, FEWS Net, a US-created provider of warning and analysis on food insecurity, released a report detailing that a famine had allegedly taken hold of northern Gaza. The report argued that 65,000-75,000 individuals remain stranded in the area without sufficient access to food.
“Israel’s near-total blockade of humanitarian and commercial food supplies to besieged areas of North Gaza Governorate” has resulted in mass starvation among scores of innocent civilians in the beleaguered enclave, the report stated.
Lew subsequently issued a statement denying the veracity of the FEWS Net report, slamming the organization for peddling “inaccurate” information and “causing confusion.”
“The report issued today on Gaza by FEWS NET relies on data that is outdated and inaccurate. We have worked closely with the Government of Israel and the UN to provide greater access to the North Governorate, and it is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000, not 65,000-75,000 which is the basis of this report,” Lew wrote.
“At a time when inaccurate information is causing confusion and accusations, it is irresponsible to issue a report like this. We work day and night with the UN and our Israeli partners to meet humanitarian needs — which are great — and relying on inaccurate data is irresponsible,” Lew continued.
Following Lew’s repudiation, FEWS NET quietly removed the report on Wednesday, sparking outrage among supporters of the pro-Palestinian cause.
“We ask FEWS NET not to submit to the bullying of genocide supporters and to again make its report available to the public,” CAIR said in its statement.
In the year following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, Israel has been repeatedly accused of inflicting famine in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Despite the allegations, there is scant evidence of mass starvation across the war-torn enclave.
This is not the first time that FEWS Net has attempted to accuse Israel of inflicting famine in Gaza. In June, the United Nations Famine Review Committee (FRC), a panel of experts in international food security and nutrition, rejected claims by FEWS Net that a famine had taken hold of northern Gaza. In rejecting the allegations, the FRC cited an “uncertainty and lack of convergence of the supporting evidence employed in the analysis.”
Meanwhile, CAIR has been embroiled in controversy since the onset of the Gaza war last October.
CAIR has been embroiled in controversy since the Oct. 7 atrocities. The head of CAIR, for example, said he was “happy” to witness Hamas’s rampage across southern Israel.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago in November. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.”
CAIR has long been a controversial organization. In the 2000s, it was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with Hamas.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’”
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Jewish Civil Rights Group Representing Amsterdam Pogrom Victims Slams Dutch Court for ‘Light Sentences’
Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters are guarded by police after violence targeting Israeli football fans broke out in Amsterdam overnight, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ami Shooman/Israel Hayom
The international Jewish civil rights organization legally representing more than 50 victims of the attack on Israeli soccer fans that took place in Amsterdam last month has joined many voices in lambasting a Dutch court for what they described as a mild punishment for the attackers.
“These sentences are an insult to the victims and a stain on the Dutch legal system,” The Lawfare Project’s founder and executive director Brooke Goldstein said in a statement on Wednesday. “Allowing individuals who coordinated and celebrated acts of violence to walk away with minimal consequences diminishes the rule of law and undermines trust in the judicial process. If this is the response to such blatant antisemitism, what hope is there for deterring future offenders or safeguarding the Jewish community.”
On Tuesday, a district court in Amsterdam sentenced five men for their participation in the violent attacks in the Dutch city against fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv. The premeditated and coordinated violence took place on the night of Nov. 7 and into the early hours of Nov 8, before and after Maccabi Tel Aviv competed against the Dutch soccer team Ajax in a UEFA Europa League match. The five suspects were sentenced to up to 100 hours of community service and up to six months in prison.
The attackers were found guilty of public violence, which included kicking an individual lying on the ground, and inciting the violence by calling on members of a WhatsApp group chat to gather and attack Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. One man sentenced on Tuesday who had a “leading role” in the violence, according to prosecutors, was given the longest sentence — six months in prison.
“As someone who witnessed these trials firsthand, I am deeply disheartened by the leniency of these sentences,” added Ziporah Reich, director of litigation at The Lawfare Project. “The violent, coordinated attacks against Jews in Amsterdam are among the worst antisemitic incidents in Europe. These light sentences fail to reflect the gravity of these crimes and do little to deliver justice to the victims who are left traumatized and unheard. Even more troubling, they set a dangerous precedent, signaling to future offenders that such horrific acts of violence will not be met with serious consequences.”
The Lawfare Project said on Wednesday that it is representing over 50 victims of the Amsterdam attacks. It has also secured for their clients a local counsel — Peter Plasman, who is a partner at the Amsterdam-based law firm Kötter L’Homme Plasman — to represent them in the Netherlands. The Lawfare Project aims to protect the civil and human rights of Jewish people around the world through legal action.
Others who have criticized the Dutch court for its sentencing of the five men on Tuesday included Arsen Ostrovsky, a leading human rights attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum; Tal-Or Cohen, the founder and CEO of CyberWell; and The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel.
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