As I hung up the call with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib three months ago, it struck me: if this was my first time hearing directly from a Gazan after a year of war, how much more true might that be for our readers?
Despite losing 32 members of his family in this war, Ahmed has become one of the most vocal Palestinian critics of Hamas in the West, bringing a rare nuance and undisputed humanity to debate that has been so lacking online and off. Jewish News isn’t in the business of bringing speakers to the UK, but this time it felt too important not to.
Fast forward 12 weeks, and over four days last week, Ahmed took part in a public conversation with JN columnist Josh Glancy at JW3, met Sir Tony Blair to talk about Gaza’s “day after”, held discussions with parliamentarians, Foreign Office officials and public intellectuals like Simon Sebag-Montefiore and answered questions from senior imams, bishops and rabbis at Westminster Abbey in what was one of the most high-level gatherings of clergy in the UK since 7 October (organised with Liz Harris-Sawczenko).
Justin Cohen MBE
The almost unbearable strains placed on inter-community relations over the last 14 months meant such a gathering was far from inevitable.
But the level of interest in further engagement, even among those who wouldn’t see themselves as strong Israel allies, would alone have made the trip worthwhile.
As I said in introductory remarks at the Abbey, (not a sentence many Jewish journalists have ever uttered, I imagine!) British Jews and followers of other faiths will be living alongside each other in the UK long after this war — just as Israelis and Palestinians will be — and it would be a dereliction of leadership to refuse to engage with this reality just because it feels so difficult.
The almost unbearable strains placed on inter-community relations over the last 14 months meant such a gathering was far from inevitable
As Ahmed reminded each of those he met, this isn’t about “kumbaya”. It is, however, about moving out of the bubbles we all live in, hearing other perspectives and ending dangerous vacuums of contact. It doesn’t mean we all have to agree: we simply won’t.
Not everyone at the Abbey was on the same page as Ahmed. Indeed some participants weren’t necessarily even on the same page as other leaders from their own faith. But it was a respectful conversation, during which several senior figures heard a nuanced viewpoint they hadn’t before, and some plan to do more in their own communities. Surely that’s a good thing.
In truth, only when such conversations can take place in public or be reported in full by newspapers such as ours will we be able to say that we have really succeeded.
On the penultimate day of the trip, during a visit to Leeds, we were reminded how far away we are from that and why we must not give up.
“They should get on,” the observant Muslim taxi driver who collected us from the station replied when asked if there were historically positive relations between his community and Jews in the city.
Unaware that I was Jewish or that Ahmed was from Gaza, he went on: “Israel is a reality today. They [Hamas] shouldn’t have started a war.” If I didn’t know better I’d have thought he was a plant to ensure the smoothest of arrivals.
Once at Makkah Mosque, Ahmed offered the 20 assembled congregants the same take as he had to politicians and members of the Jewish community alike: that it is possible to hold two thoughts in one’s head at the same time.
That this time requires just that. That it is possible to be stinging in criticism of Israel, while being utterly damning about Hamas and its treatment of the Palestinians. That strongly questioning why 32 members of his family were lost in Israeli strikes in this war did not preclude him from being scathing about elements of the “aid industry” or doubting how pro-Palestine those who take to the streets calling for an intifada actually are.
Did I ever imagine a proudly Jewish newspaper would bring a prominent Palestinian critic of Hamas into a conservative mosque in the heart of Leeds to discuss Israel-Gaza during a war? Not remotely
This encounter was even less likely than the one at the Abbey two days earlier and Imam Qari Asim deserves huge credit for taking a risk and showing leadership. As elsewhere, tensions have been running extremely high in Leeds and some Jews have faced ostracisation or worse.
Did I ever imagine a proudly Jewish newspaper would bring a prominent Palestinian critic of Hamas into a conservative mosque in the heart of Leeds to discuss Israel-Gaza during a war? Not remotely. But it happened, no one walked out and the world carried on.
Those in attendance at the historic talk were not hand-picked for having “sanitised” views, but chose to attend, alongside Jewish neighbours, after a flier was circulated among congregants. They were largely men in middle age or older — and a few younger women.
There was no strong sense of attachment to Hamas in the Q and A but Ahmed was pressed hard, including on the question of what the Palestinian Authority had achieved through its approach. Overall, there was a palpable sense of a lack of hope in the future for Palestinians.
While I was profoundly moved that the event took place and felt the conversation could have continued far longer, I can’t say I left with the impression that the gap between Jewish and majority Muslim opinion is any narrower at this moment than the chasm many fear.
Equally, I left more determined than ever to pursue serious dialogue, including on the most thorny issues, for the sake of the future of the Jewish community as much as for others. It may not be as fruitful as we’d hope, especially in moments like this, but at least it means we are engaging with reality.
Am I naive? Perhaps, but can anyone point to the alternative leaving British Jews feeling safer, more content?
It was the honour of my year to host Ahmed in the UK. With each meeting, it became clearer that Ahmed — with his no-nonsense, non two-faced approach — combined with his personal experience and global platform — has the potential to be a key player in inter-community and intra-community dialogue.
