Why can’t they (the Jews and Muslims, particularly in Israel) just get along?
In the Ottoman Empire – (basically) they did! Read more here.
Currently, even Israelis and Palestinians who have fought each other, do get along and want to live together!
You are invited to attend the 20th annual event presented by Combatants for Peace, April 29, 2025. Visit www.cfpeace.org and look under the Ceremonies tab to register for both: 20th Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Ceremony and 6th Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony
“Combatants for Peace is a grassroots movement of Israelis and Palestinians working together to end the occupation and bring peace, freedom and safety for all people between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea. Committed to joint nonviolence since our inception, we use civil resistance, education and other creative means of activism to transform systems of oppression and build a free and just future based in collective liberation.”
Victor Eskenazi
Mountlake Terrace
The author needs to have a firmer grip on history. Under the Ottomans and other Muslim govts, Jews and other non-Muslims had to live in the subservient state of Dhimmi or Dhimmitude: Dhimmitude is the Islamic system of governing populations conquered by jihad wars, encompassing demographic, ethnic, and religious aspects of the political system. The term was coined by Bat Ye’or in 1983 to describe the legal and social conditions of Jews and Christians subjected to Islamic rule. It refers to the second-class status of non-Muslims living in Muslim-majority countries where laws favor Islamic norms and practices. Is that getting along? Also, why are there no or almost no Jews living in Muslim-majority states? Care to explain?
I’ll give it a try, John. For centuries Jews have lived in “Muslim-controlled states” as you say, in “second-class status.” They were tolerated for their skills as artisans, craftsmen, and businessmen. Their treatment under Islamic law was generally better than what they received under laws in Christian states of the time. Muslins saw Jews as sons of Abraham. Christians saw them as the executioner of Jesus.
With the success of the Zionist movement and the disastrous effects of Nazism, Jews have increasingly found safety in moving to Israel. There are still Jews in Muslim-majority states. Their numbers there are dwindling as war and terrorism continues.
From my history of Spain class ( Thank you Millie!) I believe I learned that Spain was a stronger country(or group of states)when it thrived with arts, science and business before Isabella and Ferdinand ruled that the Jewish and Moorish peoples had to leave as Christians became intolerant.
part 1 of 2
Thank you, John and others for your comments and questions.
I did not write that non-Muslims were equal to Muslims in the Ottoman
Empire. My comment was that – Basically – they got along. That’s why I
provided a link to a more in depth explanation. Please see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Ottoman_Empire.
Yes, Carol, Al-Andalus refers to the time when the Iberian Peninsula was
under Muslim Rule and generally acknowledged as a Golden Age with Jews,
Christians and Muslims living together, basically – “getting along.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus
Mostly we hear of the “Spanish Inquisition” against the Jews. Inquisitions
had their start in the 12th-century Kingdom of France and spread throughout
much of Europe.
“Today, the English term ‘Inquisition’ is popularly applied to any one of the
regional tribunals or later national institutions that worked against heretics or
other offenders against the canon law of the Catholic Church. “
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition#Definition_and_goals
Here is Victor’s Part 2 of 2 as he was unable to post:
For context.
In 1865, depending on one’s beliefs/views, after 4 years of war, in the U.S. Mr Lincoln “stole” property from those in The South/The Confederate States, both land and (black) slaves.
In 1865, as part of the Tanzimat, liberal reforms, was the Imperial Reform Edict which gave – Full legal equality for non-Muslims. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanzimat
October 28, 1965:
“DECLARATION ON
THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS
NOSTRA AETATE
PROCLAIMED BY HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI
ON OCTOBER 28, 1965”
“True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ;(13) still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. All should see to it, then, that in catechetical work or in the preaching of the word of God they do not teach anything that does not conform to the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ.”
https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html
Michael, John, I expect to respond about Zionism and why so few Jews in Muslim countries in another opinion piece – with gratitude to Teresa and My Neighborhood Network News