‘There is no historic struggle between Arabs and Israelites,’ says head of Syrian opposition in exile.

By World Israel News Staff

Syrian dissidents held a virtual meeting recently with an Israeli rabbi to discuss peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East.

The Zoom meeting was held between Rabbi Oury Cherki, head of the “Brit Olam” institution that spreads Jewish values in the Diaspora, and leaders of the Syrian government in exile who oppose Assad’s regime in Syria.

The meeting between was scheduled after the head of the Syrian government in exile, Jamal Sabbagh, read Rabbi Cherki’s letter to Islamic scholars, which was intended to create understanding between believers of Judaism and Islam.

Sabbagh told Rabbi Cherki during the meeting that he looked forward to achieving peaceful coexistence between Jews and Sunni Muslim Arabs.

“It’s a great joy and honor to create a meeting between peoples. Historically, there is no struggle between Arabs and the Israelites. We must seek truth and peace in the Middle East.”

“Sunni Arabs have no dispute with the Israelites, and that’s the truth. The ideologies of Nasser and Saddam are inventions foreign to the region, secular nationalist ideologies created this conflict. There was a military alliance between Prophet Muhammad and the Israelites, and the Abrahamic peace is the only hope. After what we saw on October 7th, there must be peace between the cousins from both nations.”

“The children of Ishmael and the children of Isaac lived together in Andalusia, this should also be in the Middle East. We need complete normalization, economic and security cooperation, absolute peace, true solidarity and a relationship of trust, because no one can separate between cousins.”

“The Palestinian issue is an artificial issue that dictators in the region use to strengthen their position against their people. We have real hope for regime change in Syria and cleansing it from the rule of the mullahs of Tehran, the Iranian nuclear project threatens the entire region and the world but together we have a chance to deal with it. We need a summit meeting of Islamic and Jewish scholars.”

Rabbi Cherki responded by emphasizing the need for a historic rapprochement between Jews and Islam.

“These important words need to find their anchor in Islam, and in the ancient sources of Islam there is certainly room for recognition that we are brother nations, and that the State of Israel is the fulfillment of the divine promise given to the people of Israel for their state.”

A Sunni imam linked to the Syrian government in exile who was present at the meeting but who requested that his name be redacted argued that Islam and the Quran recognize Jewish claims to Israel. “We want an ongoing and healthy discussion between Sunni Arabs and Jews. In the Quran there is a promise and recognition that the land belongs to the people of Israel. Original Sunni Islam is Talmudic Islam, not the extreme versions of the last 150 years, of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime.”

“I am an expert in Islamic law, in Islamic law there are very precise instructions for peace and war, and they are: If there is a war with a non-Muslim nation, and we conquered land, it is ours, and if we lost land, it is theirs.”

“We can make peace on the condition that the other nation does not attack us and allows the teaching of Islam in its land, as in Israel. We are not allowed to invade Israel, even if it was an Islamic land and was taken in war. We are not allowed to invade Greece, even though it was Islamic.”

This is not my opinion; this is the command of Allah! I challenge the Muslim Brotherhood people to debate me, my words can be proven from the Islamic sources. As long as Israeli democracy allows us to lecture on Islam and pray freely, we are not allowed to fight Israel, in any way!”

“According to the rules of Islam, if we have an internal enemy, we are allowed to ask for help from non-Muslim allies. The Alawites and Wahhabis and Shiites are rebels, they are not Sunnis, and we are allowed to form an alliance with allies against them, and the best ally for us is Israel. This way we will provide security for Israel and the entire region.”

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Orthodox rabbi pens letter to Islamic scholars, arguing that they are obligated by the Quran to acknowledge the Jewish people’s right to Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

The Quran recognizes the Jewish people’s right to Israel and observant Muslims are obliged to do the same, an Orthodox rabbi from Israel argues in a letter penned to Islamic scholars.

Rabbi Oury Cherki, an Algerian-born lecturer at the Machon Meir yeshiva in Jerusalem and chairman of the Brit Olam – Noahide World Center, penned the letter, the third in a series of missives under the title “A Bridge between Faiths,” to a group of Islamic scholars to elucidate the Jewish perspective on the Islamic faith and to improve relations between Jews and Muslims worldwide.

In his third letter, released last week, Rabbi Cherki argued that Jewish control over the historic Land of Israel does not fall under the category of Dar al-Harb (literally the “House of War”), referring to land held by the enemies of Islam or land conquered from Islamic countries that must be recaptured.

“One of the fundamental obstacles to constructive dialogue between Judaism and Islam is the Muslim claim that Judaism is a religion but not a nation. However, from the perspective of Judaism, the Jewish nation is, first and foremost – a nation.”

“Therefore, all of Jacob’s descendants are part of the Jewish nation, whether they believe in the Torah or not, and thus, they are included among the inheritors of the land of Israel.”

“The Jewish state should be recognized as the manifestation of the divine promise to return the nation of Israel to its land, as mentioned multiple times in Islamic sources: Sura 5,20: ‘Bear in mind the words of Moses to his people. He said: ‘Remember, my people, the favor God has bestowed upon you. He has raised prophets among you, made you kings, and given you what He has given to no other nation. Enter, my people, the holy land God has assigned for you. Do not turn back, or you shall be ruined’.”

Instead, the Quran recognizes Israel as the historic homeland of the Jewish nation, Rabbi Cherki wrote.

“Therefore, the State of Israel should not be regarded as a foreign entity imposing itself on the Muslim world (Dar al-Islam). On the contrary, it should be seen as the realization of divine justice as found in the Quran and the Torah: the return of the land to its rightful owners.”

Rabbi Cherki also cited the January 1919 Faisal-Weizmann Agreement, under which Emir Faisal – later king of Iraq – endorsed the Balfour Declaration, Britain’s pledge of support for a Jewish national homeland in the historic Land of ISrael.

“We must note that in 1918, a meeting was had between the Emir Faisal, the son of Hussein, king of the Hijaz, and Chaim Weizmann, the representative of the Zionist Organization, which led to the 1919 London Agreement regarding cooperation between the Arab national movement and the Zionist movement.”

“On the basis of the brotherhood between the sons of Abraham, a happy period of peace and advancement of the world towards its correction can open.”

The correspondence between Rabbi Cherki and several dozen Islamic scholars across the Muslim world, was initiated following the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7th.

After penning the first letter, Rabbi Cherki was invited to the United Arab Emirates, where he met with Sheikh Muhammad Talib al-Shahi, Director of the Preaching Department at the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments, and Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defense Affairs, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee at the UAE Federal National Council.

During the February meeting, Al Nuaimi endorsed Rabbi Cherki’s argument that the State of Israel should not be defined in Islam as Dar al-Harb.

It is “a lie, fabricated only in the past 100 years,” Al Nuaimi said.

“Stop trying to justify your existence; you are an established fact, and Jews are part of the Middle East.”

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