The leader of Reform Judaism decried the demonization of Islam in the media and called on American Muslims to join a dialogue.
“The time has come to stand up to the opportunists in our midst – the media figures, religious leaders, and politicians who demonize Muslims and bash Islam, exploiting the fears of their fellow citizens for their own purposes,” Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union of Reform Judaism, said Friday, addressing the convention of the Islamic Society of North America in Chicago.
A URJ statement said Yoffie appealed to ISNA to “join the Union for Reform Judaism in urging the U.S. government to commit to an active, high level engagement in the” Israeli-Palestinian peace process and to “work to portray the conflict in political rather than religious terms, and, most importantly, speak out against those who justify killing and terror in God’s name.”
