Building Bridges: Muslim-Jewish Dialogue and the Path to Peaceful Coexistence

On the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council's 63rd session, the World Jewish Congress convened a high-level side event on combating religious intolerance amid rising geopolitical tension, underscoring the need for sustained Jewish-Muslim dialogue. Ambassadors, diplomats, UN officials and religious and civil society representatives heard from members of the Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council, who stressed that interfaith cooperation is key to countering antisemitism and Islamophobia and building social cohesion across religious and regional lines.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Leon Saltiel, WJC Director of Diplomacy and Representative to the UN in Geneva, highlighted the transformative power of dialogue in advancing human rights and peaceful coexistence. Introducing the panel of faith leaders, Saltiel set the framework of how religion can transcend geopolitical divides to serve as a bridge between all people.

Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, Professor of International Human Rights Law at the University of Essex and former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, opened by noting the difficulty of convening a Jewish-Muslim dialogue at a moment of such tension, and stressed that religion and human rights are not opposing forces but ones that can reinforce each other.

Shaheed pointed to several frameworks shaping his current work: the Beirut Declaration on Faith for Rights, approaching its twentieth anniversary, which argues that human rights and religious traditions benefit from mutual engagement; the UN Tirana Framework for Confronting Intolerance, which calls for collaboration across governments, civil society, faith actors, and the private sector; and the Oslo Model, which he developed this year with support from the Government of Norway, arguing that interfaith engagement must extend beyond senior leadership to the grassroots, where those closest to the challenges are often best placed to find practical solutions. 

Mufti Faid Mohammed Said, Imam of the London Central Mosque and Board Member of the MJLC, drew on the Quran's emphasis on human dignity, noting that scripture does not say "We have honored Muslims" or "We have honored believers," but rather "We have honored the children of Adam," a phrase he said reminds him that every person on earth is his brother or sister. He illustrated the point with an account of the Prophet Muhammad, who is reported to have stood in respect as a funeral procession passed by. When told it was the funeral of a Jewish man, the Prophet replied, "Was he not a human soul?" For Faid, this teaches that "human dignity and human honor belong to every person. Whenever religion is misunderstood in ways that diminish that dignity, we must stand up to say so."

Said also reflected on his work with the MJLC after October 7, describing it as a crucial moment that tested whether the organization would continue working together through a difficult and emotional period, and one he considers a genuine achievement that its members chose to keep going. He noted that the MJLC will mark its tenth anniversary this October.

Chief Rabbi of Poland and MJLC Co-Chair Michael Schudrich drew on the Torah's account of a single Adam and Eve, noting the Talmud's teaching that God created only one couple so that no one could ever claim superior lineage or ancestry, since all humanity descends from the same family. Pushing back on the common claim that human rights and religion are inherently in conflict, he argued the opposite is true: "human rights emerge from a correct understanding of religion and of the value and dignity of every human being." Reflecting on the MJLC's work after October 7, when the group postponed a major conference but chose to proceed with a board meeting despite objections, he said the experience taught the group to engage with one another, reinforcing that "division and hostility are not what God wants from us."

Following a Q&A with the audience, where several of the ambassadors in attendance took the floor to welcome this initiative, both Mufti Faid and Rabbi Schudrich pointed to religion's power to build lasting partnership between their faiths and stressed that faith leaders bear a shared responsibility to foster mutual respect and a united stand against religious intolerance.