After an informal intro on day 1, over 106 participants were welcomed by the MJC Team for the latest edition of the Muslim Jewish Conference in Berlin, Germany. The attendees gathered for a discussion on Judaism & Islam, focusing on particular religious terms in both the Jewish and Muslim faith and discuss their understanding of it. This group activity proved to be insightful in providing the audience with a detailed perspective. The activity finally concluded as a take off point for a fruitful discussion on religion for the rest of the week. Later on, the participants reconvened to join their respective committees for the inaugural session under the supervision of their chairs.
In the late afternoon, the Head of PR at MJC officially welcomed the participants and guests to the 7th edition of the Muslim Jewish Conference during the Opening Ceremony. Germany´s Foreign Minister Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the patron of this year´s MJC, reassured the support from the German government towards the facilitation of this conference. The honorable Andy Rabens, Special advisor for Global Youth issues at the U.S. Department of State, also joined us for this auspicious event. In his speech he reiterated the need for a meaningful dialogue between the Jewish & Muslim communities. A video message from Ambassador Daniel Baer, a permanent representative of the U.S. to the OSCE followed next, welcoming the participants to the MJC. We were also joined by the Special advisor on Anti-Semitism to ODIHR and Joel Braunold, Executive Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace at the opening ceremony with both of them emphasizing on the requirement of actionable work during the course of the conference. Ira Foreman, the U.S State department’s special Envoy to Monitor & Combat Anti-Semitism also sent along his best wishes for the participants with asking them to take a lead in countering hate elements for a better future.
Following the speeches from our guests, Sana Khalid, a chair of the projects committee, was invited to describe the journey of MJC and about the role of this conference in effective dialogue. Last but not least, MJC’s Secretary General, Ilja Sichrovsky, spoke about breaking the norm of ‘all talk, no action’ by the ‘let’s get to work’ approach so that we are driven by our inner self towards creating a positive environment for interfaith dialogue during these testing times.
Upon completion of the ceremony, dinner was served that was followed by an inspirational story from Daniel Pincus on saving a fellow MJC participant from Yemen during the war that almost took everything away from the local citizens economically and socially.
