While 2016 saw an unfortunate increase of both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in the country, it also inspired the building of tighter Muslim-Jewish alliances. In this op-ed for Religion News Service, Eboo Patel, president of the Interfaith Youth Core (and author of the new book “Interfaith Leadership: A Primer”) writes about being inspired by interfaith college organizations. “I have just returned from the Hillel International conference, where President Eric Fingerhut stated unequivocally that Hillels around the country would stand up against Islamophobia. This past summer at an Interfaith Leadership Institute organized by my organization, Interfaith Youth Core, I met Muslim students who took a particular interest in the partnership that King forged with rabbis during his 1966 Fair Housing March in Chicago. They followed Muslim scholars who viewed even a hint of anti-Semitism as poison with no place in Islam, or anywhere else for that matter.”
