The Religious Changes That Helped Bring about the New Era of Israeli-Arab Diplomatic Cooperation https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/religion-holidays/2022/04/the-religious-changes-that-helped-bring-about-the-new-era-of-israeli-arab-diplomatic-cooperation/

April 5, 2022 | Aryeh Tepper
About the author: Aryeh Tepper teaches at Ben-Gurion University and is a senior research fellow at its Center for Israel Studies. He is also the director of publications for the American Sephardi Federation.

Last week, the senior diplomats of Morocco, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and the U.S. gathered in the Sde Boker kibbutz in the Negev—where David Ben-Gurion spent his final years—to discuss regional cooperation. Aryeh Tepper examines how this summit, which would have been unimaginable a decade ago, results not only from diplomatic and strategic shifts but also from theological ones:

A serious struggle is being waged by Islamic scholars from Morocco to the Gulf to cultivate and to advance a tolerant form of Islam that respects non-Muslims and that recognizes minority rights based upon Islamic principles. The efforts of Islamic scholars must of course be seen within larger political contexts. In the Middle East, religion and politics are rarely separable. Additionally, even if one identifies with these scholars’ aims, it’s possible to wonder about the effectiveness of scholarly-religious pronouncements and documents, in general.

But, . . . if you had been following the various forms of Islamic reform and their interaction with global Jewish communities over the past few years, meetings often spear-headed by the American Sephardi Federation, then you weren’t terribly surprised when the kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates established, and the kingdom of Morocco restored and upgraded, diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in 2020.

In 2013 and 2014, Morocco and the UAE were already working to change the Islamic discourse in the Muslim world. And in Marrakesh, in 2016, over 300 Muslim scholars, activists, and politicians came together to articulate a tolerant vision of Islam that can function as a constructive, humane force in a modern state. The result, the “Marrakesh Declaration,” is grounded in the belief that tolerance is deeply rooted in the Muslim past.

It’s clear on which side the Jewish people stands in this battle. It was on display in Sde Boker.

Read more on Sephardi Ideas Monthly: https://americansephardi.org/news/simmarch22/