American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC) President Anila Ali and H.E. Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, founder of Dubai’s Crossroads of Civilizations Museum, appear at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit 2023, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sept. 28, 2023. Photo: Arthur Dubov.

‘As Religion Divides Us in Middle East, It Also Brings Us Together’: H.E. Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori Calls for Interfaith Solidarity at Eradicate Hate Global Summit

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The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) was honored to participate this week in the Eradicate Hate Global Summit 2023 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

CAM was represented at the three-day forum by Board of Governors Member Misha Galperin and International Affairs and Partnerships Associate Arthur Dubov. CAM Advisory Board Chair Natan Sharansky also joined the gathering virtually on Friday.

Furthermore, CAM facilitated the attendance of UAE interfaith relations advocate H.E. Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, founder of Dubai’s Crossroads of Civilizations Museum, who delivered keynote remarks in a conversation with American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC) President Anila Ali on Thursday.

“For me personally, I was very fortunate that my passion for history turned into a museum,” Mansoori said. “And in the museum, political hats are left outside. Museums are respected, and in the museum we have artifacts of Jews in the Arab world. Most of the people that get excited about the Jewish items are not the Jews, but our religious Muslims.”

“As religion divides us in the Middle East, it also brings us together,” he noted. “Kinship is important. Jews, like the Arabs, have tribes. The process of antisemitism is the same mentality of Islamophobia. I think we should be more creative in our education.”

American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC) President Anila Ali and H.E. Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, founder of Dubai’s Crossroads of Civilizations Museum, speak at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit 2023, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sept. 28, 2023. Photo: Arthur Dubov.

Mansoori was also the guest of honor at a dinner co-hosted on Tuesday by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Sharansky, who addressed the summit from Jerusalem via a Zoom exchange with Galperin on Friday, pointed out, “What adds to polarization today is social media where everybody can choose their own pages and not to speak to others.”

CAM Advisory Board Chairman Natan Sharansky speaks via Zoom with CAM Board of Governors Member Misha Galperin at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit 2023, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sept. 29, 2023. Photo: Arthur Dubov.

This year’s event marked the third annual edition of the summit, an initiative that was established in the wake of the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue massacre.

The purpose of the summit is to provide a unique, multidisciplinary forum to share ideas and build working relationships to drive the development and deployment of effective approaches to reduce hate-fueled violence.

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