It was an unfortunate week for Israel. The Jewish state lost trees in the Carmel Mountains, lost the US administration, lost momentum in the peace process and lost security incentives the US offered in exchange for a partial settlement freeze. Additionally, Brazil and Argentina recognized an independent Palestine with 1967 borders.
But what was a gain and a welcome development was a historic chance to reconcile with Turkey. Diplomats from both sides held talks in Geneva to agree on a document that will satisfy both sides’ requirements to bury the flotilla incident, a deadly Israeli attack on a boat carrying humanitarian aid to the Gazans on May 31 that left nine civilians dead. The possibility is not remote; the sides are simply not of the same mind on the phrasing. It is inconceivable to think that the tension, albeit currently easing, between Turkey and Israe l will continue much longer, as world leaders have strongly called on the Turkish and Israeli leadership to reconcile for stability and peace in the region.
Turkey says the current tensions are Israel’s choice and that Turkey is only condemning its brutal treatment of the Palestinians.
Israel still continues to allow Jewish settlements and tighten its grip over the land where the Palestinians aim to found a sovereign state if current peace talks yield any results. Israel has also intensified its military raids on Gaza and vowed to continue such incursions to “demilitarize” the strip.
In recent weeks the US had tried to convince Israel to extend a limited West Bank settlement freeze for 90 days, offering a series of security and diplomatic incentives. However, the negotiations over an extension broke down, and US officials announced earlier this week they had abandoned that approach.
This is now a historic chance for Turkey to step in to be a broker between Arabs and Israelis, as the oldest Muslim friend of Israel and a new, trusted partner of Muslims in the region.
Professor Murat Çemrek from the Institute of Strategic Thinking (SDE) said he has been talking to diplomats who participated in the Camp David, Madrid and Oslo peace processes, and he said these diplomats even acknowledged that these peace talks were not successful.
Çemrek said Turkey has a good reputation among Arabs, and diplomatic circles in the region trust Turkey as an honest broker. “Turkey could do it,” he said.
The US for years called on Israel to ease the Gaza blockade, calling the situation there “unsustainable.” But it was after Turkey’s pressure on Israel, including Israel’s flotilla bungle, that Israel agreed to ease the Gaza blockade.
Israel also welcomed Turkey’s role in proximity talks in 2008 and hailed Turkey’s mediation as “honest” even at a time when Turkish-Israeli relations were experiencing a huge diplomatic crisis. In February the Israeli Haaretz daily quoted Ehud Olmert, prime minister during the peace talks under Turkish mediation, as saying that Turkey acted responsibly and fairly in its role as a mediator in the indirect peace negotiations between Israel and Syria.
Stephen M. Walt wrote in his blog at Foreign Policy on Thursday that the current situation in the Middle East isn’t good for anyone — not the US, Israel or the Palestinians. Noting that it is increasingly likely that a genuine two-state solution isn’t going to be reached and that the US will be in a very awkward position once mainstream writers and politicians begin to recognize that fact, Walt said once it becomes clear that “two states for two people” is not going to happen, the US will have to choose between backing a one-state, bi-national democracy, embracing ethnic cleansing or supporting permanent apartheid. “Those are the only alternatives to a two-state solution, and no future president will relish having to choose between them. But once the two-state solution is off the table, that is precisely the choice a future president would face,” he said.
Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, known for his explicit pro-Israel position, declined to comment and said he can’t give an opinion on “nonsense,” referring to Walt’s remarks. “Israel isn’t going to create a bi-national state,” he underlined.
Israel and the Palestinians commenced the latest round of peace talks on Sept. 2. But less than a month later, negotiations broke down after Israel refused to extend a 10-month freeze on West Bank housing starts that ended at the end of September.
Birol Akgün, a professor at Selçuk University, said he thinks recent US withdrawal from pressuring Israel to halt Jewish settlements has to do with the WikiLeaks dump. Asked if it means Israel is orchestrating all of the WikiLeaks leaks, he said he means the neocons, the Israeli lobby and the deep pro-Israel establishment in the US are all groups controlling WikiLeaks, not necessarily the Israeli government. But he ruled out the possibility that Turkey could play a role in the Mideast peace process in the near future. “That is not realistic,” he stressed.
Akgün added that Israel is worried there are impending resolutions to be adopted in international platforms, rebuking Israel for its brutal treatment of Palestinians and the Mavi Marmara incident, and that is the reason why Israel wanted to take the first step to reconcile with Turkey to control the damage.
(The following is a condensed report of an Israeli and Palestinian delegation I was part of two weeks ago in Istanbul)
“The word ‘peace’ has become hollow. It has lost its meaning,” said one of the participants. “That may feel like the case,” said another, “but we cannot let the voice of despair and violence re-appropriate our language for the world we hope to build.”
This excerpt came from a recent gathering of Israelis and Palestinian peace builders meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. The gathering was billed as a “Consultation” of bi-communal field experts. Over the course of three days, twenty participants acted as a think-tank to envision the seemingly impossible – the reemergence of a cross-border peace movement in Israel / Palestine.
The host organization was a Massachusetts based NGO called the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding (KCP), which specialize in bi-communal trainings for grassroots peace-building practitioners all over the globe. Istanbul was chosen as a compromise for an off-site location close enough but far enough away from the conflict zone. Ten Israelis and ten Palestinians, from places that included Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jaffa, each with advanced level peace-building resumes, were invited.
The founder of Karuna Center for Peacebuilding, Dr. Paula Green, organized this gathering with one goal in mind: to assess ‘what kind of bi-communal programming would be useful for this region.’ In other words, what kinds of trainings or actions could bring Israelis and Palestinians together in joint cooperation under today’s reality? What could be helpful now, when the prospects for meaningful resolutions are not promising and the political will of the leaders are not inspiring. But this was not a gathering of politicians. The twenty men and women, ranging from their late twenties to their early sixties, were assembled in an effort to help make sure that grassroots collaboration projects between Israelis and Palestinians do not become extinct.
As irrelevant as co-existence work may often seem to a cynical person, this was a battle tested group of peace workers. Extensive field experience united this particular group in Istanbul. They were not beginners. They didn’t need prior agreements or ground rules as is usually the case for this type of meeting between Israelis and Palestinians. Most, if not everyone assembled, had spent the better part of the past two decades invested in some type of bi-communal work. Friends Across Borders, Givat Haviva, Neve Shalom/Wahat AlSalam, Eden Association, Kids for Peace, Face to Face, and AlWATAN are just a sample of the organizations represented in the room.Everyone here shared the same strong belief: that that sustainable peace is much more likely if a certain segment of conflicting parties in the society have the courage to cross boundaries and forge a relationship with their adversaries.
With so much experience under one roof, facilitators Paula Green of KCP and Carol Kasbari from Jerusalem, asked the group to brainstorm ways to expand the shrinking field of peace workers inside the Holy Land. Our only assignment beforehand was to read several chapters from “Bridging the Divide: Peace-building in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, a study of lessons learned from co-existence activity edited by Edy Kaufman, Walid Salem, and Juliette Verhoeven. Invariably, we examined some of the key obstacles inhibiting our attempts at bi-communal work, many of which were easy to discuss, but difficult to imagine transcending.
The topic of the “1%” kept surfacing -the distressing statistic that less than 1% of Israelis and Palestinians ever meet face to face for the purpose of a cooperative activity. Perhaps it is not a surprising statistic. For both political and social reasons, most Israelis and Palestinians do not base their impression of the other through personal contact. There are many reasons for this.Palestinians, for example, face extraordinary pressure to refuse participation, specifically bi-communal activity with Israelis, as part of a national anti-normalization boycott. Several Palestinians invited to this consultation had to decline for fear of losing their jobs or being labeled as traitors or collaborators.
For Israelis, there is little incentive to participate in bi-communal work. For reasons including the construction of the wall/separation barrier, the diminished physical threat from Palestinians in recent years has sedated the Israeli public to the point that the conflict is no longer seen as an existential threat. Therefore, the desire to meet them or work in partnership has lost its sense of urgency and relevance, at least in the short term. The group all agreed, however, that this “bubble consciousness” simultaneously contributes to a growing sense of apathy and fear which, in turn, greatly reduces interest in bi-communal activities. Exploring long term mutually satisfactory arrangements to end the conflict is even less likely in this atmosphere of separation and non-cooperation.
The group also spent time examining what has worked in the peace-building field over the years including the specific characteristics of why certain groups have lasted. A powerful example of effective, inspiring and sustainable bi-communal activity mentioned repeatedly was the work ofBereaved Parents’ Circle, a joint support group of Palestinian and Israeli parents who have lost children from violence in the conflict. No matter what your politics are, given what these parents have endured, it is pretty hard imagining anyone convincing these people why they should hate each other.
But what makes a project like this effective and sustainable? One could say these parents are taking huge risks, but they are also meeting real human needs. Encouraging Israelis and Palestinians to cross boundaries, literally and figuratively, has to resonate on a deep enough level to motivate taking the risk – the type of risk that makes it so plainly obvious that we are all in this together. Is it precisely these types of encounters, which wake us up to our interdependence, that this consultation was geared to uncover.
One specific encounter that emerged during the sessions was the role of a new third party. Not a third party as a moderator, but one with high stakes in the conflict. A discussion was convened around the simple question: can joint German-Palestinian-Israeli dialogue make a difference to our future?” Although the format is unclear, what was clear is that Germany’s history is directly linked to the formation of Israeli society and has immense consequences on where Palestinian are today. This is well documented from the Israeli perspective, in Avrum Burg’s book, “The Holocaust is Over, We Must Rise From Its Ashes.” The question of the German voice in this conflict, however, peeked genuine curiosity. If organized and facilitated appropriately, perhaps the German narrative, in the context of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, may enable parties to directly confront issues of shame and blame in an unprecedented manner. Who knows what would ultimately yield, but these were the kind of imaginative and risk-taking suggestions that emerged.
Other brainstorming sessions focused around different but interrelated topics, based on questions raised by the participants: Some of these included: What if we did all live in one state?What are the lessons to learn from the success of Hamas and the Settler movements? What is the role of Diaspora Jews and Palestinians in encouraging bi-communal work? How can we build a constructive struggle to end the occupation? What are the criteria for an effective peacebuilding program?
On some level, most of these conversations were not new. But on another level, few could say they had been able to talk about these subjects with peace building practitioners from both sides.The amount of expertise in the room was demonstrated less by what was actually spoken, but more by what was implicitly understood. The lack of defensiveness was noticeable, but even more striking was the sheer absence of blame. Resisting the urge to blame is a quality that cannot be understated in any context, but particularly in bi-communal work.
With help from the Karuna facilitators, the group was guided along a certain trajectory. By the final day the conversation had shifted to the practical. The challenge was clear. With support from Karuna, would members of this delegation be able to take ownership of a project to train more peace builders in this region? Could more people, on both sides, be mentored and supported to further this critical goal of meeting the other for the purposes of shared cooperation? Were there others out there even interested?
The answer was a unanimous, resounding, almost self-evident yes. But more questions remained. Could this kind of cross-border training be done given the political and social barriers?Not easily. Would there be money for it? It would have to be raised. Where would it happen? It would have to be researched. There were no simple answers and no template of success to work from. All Karuna could offer was its experience in other conflict regions and its limited resources to help push this into a reality. It was up to these twenty individuals to be the “people they were waiting for.”
That was the story of the Middle East Consultation in Istanbul. The entering question, “what kinds of programs would be useful in this region,” was actually the beginning of the answer. The kind of program constructed and run by people who’ve been working tirelessly for years to advance a cooperative interdependent bi-communal future – that is the kind of program needed.
LIVE TALK WITH MR. ADNAN OKTAR AND RABBI MENACHEM FROMAN
(from the TV program on Kanal Urfa TV, Adıyaman TV and Kral Karadeniz TV, November 10th, 2009)
Rabbi Froman with his wife Hadasah
PRESENTER: Today we have very important guests. A very well known rabbi and his dear wife. Mrs. Hadassa and Mr. Froman are with us. First of all, wellcome. Wellcome to the studio.
RABBI FROMAN: Thank you.
ADNAN OKTAR: Masha’Allah. Yes Mr. Froman is such a person who is compassionate, loving the Turkish, seeking peace, seeking beauty between countries. A very precious person. Now you can translate what I said. Mrs. Hadassa is also very precious. They love each other so much insha’Allah. They’ve been married for years now. His wife is also Jewish. She is full of love for Turkey. And we love them so much. Untill the Last Day, both Israel and Turkey will live in friendship and brotherhood insha’Allah. Look, it mentions the courage of Salahaddin Ayyubi, who is Kurdish you know, Salahaddin Ayyubi. Kurdish, Turkish, Circassians, Laz, we are all brothers. Jews are also our flesh and blood insha’Allah. Christians are also our brothers, our flesh and blood. Our Muslim nation is already our soul insha’Allah. Together we will have a brotherly, happy, carefree, troublefree, thornless, beautiful life until the Doomsday. They are entrusted to us from the Prophet Moses (pbuh), the Prophet Abraham (pbuh). Insha’Allah we don’t let anybody touch even their single hair, by the leave of Allah. They will live so comfortably, in tranquility and security, insha’Allah. In Israel, they will also be in peace and calm. We will demolish those walls. Those protective walls in Israel. There will no more be anarchy and terror. They will live in such joy in the Turkish Islamic Union. Isha’Allah Rabbi Froman will come here, they will travel in composure, we do not accept any kind of danger for them. Our Palestinian brothers will also be at ease, Syria will also be at ease, Iraq will also be at ease, Armenia will also be at ease. Insha’Allah they will live peacefully in the compassion and mercy of the Turkish Islamic Union. There will be full freedom for worship, they will worship as they wish insha’Allah.
RABBI FROMAN: First of all we have to thank Allah. That’s the beginning of everything, Bismillah. I want to thank Allah that brought me here from Jerusalem to Istanbul this afternoon. And I have no words how to express my obligation to Allah that gave me such a great grace to come here.
ADNAN OKTAR: Masha’Allah, Masha’Allah.
RABBI FROMAN: Then after we thank the messengers, the messengers of God Who brought, Who brings His grace to us and now I want to thank Harun Yahya for bringing me from Jerusalem to Istanbul and hosted me in such, me and my wife, in such a generous and nice way and I have no else way of how to again thank him for such an expression of the grace, of course. I thank God that we met. I thank God that He decided to bring me here. And I am obliged to this world of grace to continue the channel of grace that Harun Yahya began.
ADNAN OKTAR: Masha’Allah.
RABBI FROMAN: This invitation is a proof, is against satan against iblis. Satan, iblis tries to convince everybody in the world that Islam is a religion of hatred that the more you are Muslim the more you hate Jews, Americans, Europeans. And we have to stone iblis, we have to stone satan, to throw stones against him. And this invitation, a kind invitation of Harun Yahya is a very concrete stone against satan. Another lie of satan is that necessarily there is hatred between Jews and Palestinians in the Holy City. Harun Yahya have not invited only me, he invited with me a friend of mine, a dear friend of mine, and my family, my wife, Sheikh Bukhari who is going to come in a few minutes. Perhaps he is now in the airport I don’t know. And we are going to be here together as two men from Jerusalem, two men from the Holy Land. One Jew and the other is Palestinian. One is Rabbi, the other is a Sheikh, as good friends, and as together, by the grace of God Who sent us Harun Yahya. We want to, again, stone satan that lies that necessarily that there’s hatred between Jews and Palestinians in the Holy Land.
ADNAN OKTAR: By Allah’s leave, it will be like this until the Last Day, insha’Allah. In any case, we will never let anyone do any harm to the Children of the Prophet Abraham (pbuh), to the Children of the Prophet Moses (pbuh). One is the Children of the Prophet Jacob (pbuh) and the other is the Children of the Prophet Ishmael (pbuh). As you know Arabs, the Palestinians are the Children of the Prophet Ishmael (pbuh). And these beautiful beings are the Children of the Prophet Jacob (pbuh). Both are the Children of the Prophet Abraham (pbuh). By Allah’s leave, we will never let anyone touch even their single hair. No country can harm Palestine nor Israel, no one can harm Jerusalem. From now on, an age of peace will prevail. This century is the century when the Turkish Islamic Union will form. A century, which everyone will live in peace. For instance, Israel will be a national state, Iran will be a national state, Turkey will be a national state but the Turkish Islamic Union will be formed. This will be a union of hearts, love and affection. We will make peace prevail in the whole region, insha’Allah with the emergence of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh). This will be consolidated by the emergence of the Messiah (pbuh).
RABBI FROMAN: I want to say something, personal, little personal. For years I thought that Turkiye has the historical task to bring peace to the region. I think that we have to, three years I thought, that we have to reestablish the Ottoman Empire not of course the Empire of army, of conquering but empire of love, empire of Islam, empire of salam. Because Islam is from salam, it is the same word. By inviting me and other Jews, other Rabbis Harun Yahya represents the whole Turkish nation. I remember after years of thinking that Turkiye is the fact of, is the state that can bring us peace. “Us”, I mean the Palestinians and the Israelis, the Jews and the Arabs. I was in the middle of one of my lectures I said. We’ve many students together and I forgot to lock my mobile and then in the middle of the lecture I have a call. I asked, “Who is speaking?,” “Seda Aral from Istanbul” and she invited me to come to Istanbul and to meet her teacher and to begin a period of peace. For me it is like a miracle. It is like a great grace of God that I was thinking. What I was thinking about the task of the Turkish Nation and God sent me the telephone from Istanbul in the middle of my lecture, in the middle of my speaking to my students and invited me to come and to begin a period of peace.
ADNAN OKTAR: Masha’Allah.
RABBI FROMAN: I want to add something more.
ADNAN OKTAR: Masha’Allah.
RABBI FROMAN: A few months ago I was invited by the special messenger of President Obama to Washington by George Mitchell. He invited me to meet him and to think together how to bring peace to the Holy Land. I came again with an Arab friend with a Palestinian friend – a Sheikh, Sheikh Manasra his name. Together we came to Washington and we sat with George Mitchell and his coop and we spoke about the ways of how to bring peace to the Holy Land. Half of the time of the long meeting that we had, we talked, I and my Palestine friend, about Turkiye. About the task of Turkiye. We tried to explain to Mr. Mitchell, to Senator Mitchell that the power that can bring peace to the Holy Land is the Turkish-Union. And he was so moved. When he was departing he said that in the end of the conversation: “I am very moved from what you say, Rabbi Froman.” And I got a very clear impression that the result of the conversation will be a visit of President Obama in Ankara in Turkiye. There after I came here as the guest of Harun Yahya and I was interviewed by many Turkish journalists and I said, “Look here I see that very soon President Obama will come here.” They looked at me like, I don’t know, lunatic. It was in the quite in the beginning of the period of Obama. After 3 weeks I think or 4 weeks, I heard in the radio President Obama chose Turkiye as the first country in the Middle East that he is visiting. It was I think 3 months after he was elected. I think that the task of Turkiye to make peace in the whole region and especially in the Holy Land will be recognized very soon by the whole world. If the Turkish nation will work for this historical task, national task that they have, the whole world will honor the whole of Turkiye in the region in the whole world.
ADNAN OKTAR: Masha’Allah, Alhamdulillah.
RABBI FROMAN: I want to add something, perhaps for the end of the program. From history of this evening, in this evening after being hosted so kindly, so generously by your students, by your followers, I wanted to pray. We, the Jews pray to the direction of Jerusalem. So I asked Ali and Emre, I wanted to know what is the direction of Jerusalem in my apartment. One of them perhaps Ali, one of your students said, “You know that Istanbul is a place perhaps the only place in the world, the direction of Jerusalem and the direction of Mecca, the kiblah is the same direction, exactly the same direction. From Istanbul if you pray to God, you pray to God in Jerusalem, in the temple in Jerusalem, you pray to God in the mosque of Mecca.” So that gives this place Istanbul a very significant importance, very significant importance in the whole world. I hope that the Turkish nation led by Harun Yahya will fulfill this historical task.
ADNAN OKTAR: Masha’Allah, Masha’Allah. My leadership can be such that it only can be an intellectual leadership. It cannot be physical leadership. It does not mean a political leadership. It is an intellectual leadership, leadership of hearts. May Allah let me be a means in this task, insha’Allah. Masha’Allah. Israel and Israelis as a whole, are entrusted to us by Allah. Children of Ishmael (pbuh) are entrusted to us by Allah, Children of Jacob (pbuh) are also entrusted to us by Allah. Turks will fulfill the task of leadership perfectly with their beautiful souls full of love, full of kindness and full of compassion. This is destiny insha’Allah. Allah created it as it is in the destiny, the whole world will see it. Turkish nation will bring ease, abundance, wealth and peace not only to a certain region but to the whole world, insha’Allah. Allah will make this nation a means to fulfill this task as a leader insha’Allah. Masha’Allah.
RABBI FROMAN: And in the end perhaps we should finish with the beginning of the program Kemal Ataturk. One of the lies of the satan is that you can oppose God. But Allahu Akbar, everything that is happening in the world, in the end helps, supports the word of God. I am not surprised from what you read from Kemal Ataturk. Every positive man, every positive party is the deed of God and for me if Kemal Ataturk is a positive figure, then he is supporting religion and not against religion. That’s what I mean what I say, when I say several times a day “Allahu Akbar”. Allahu Akbar means that even those factors that in our eyes, in the first time are seen to be against the power of Allah, in the end it is very clear that they support the word of Allah. With this perhaps we can be sure that the victory of Allah, Whose one of the nicest names is “Salam” is “peace.” You can be sure that “Allahu Akbar” means peace will win victory, peace will win victory. Allahu Akbar.
ADNAN OKTAR: Masha’Allah, Masha’Allah. Masha’Allah. Our Ataturk, our pride. If it wasn’t Ataturk, Allah forbid I can’t even imagine what could happen. He granted this holy, this beautiful country to us to completely protect it, isn’t it? We are free, democrat, republican, we have the freedom of thought, we speak as we like, we perform our prayers as we like. We live in a modern country. It is a great blessing for everyone to express his ideas. There is no bigotry, no fanaticism. Ataturk didn’t allow communism, he also didn’t allow fascism, of course. He said: “Gentlemen, not to forget, the biggest foe of the Turkish nation is communism. In every condition it should be crashed wherever it is seen.” he says. He never allowed. At his time they made so much pressure, yet he never allowed anyone. He never allowed the fascists, he never allowed the communists. In his ideal there was always the Turkish Islamic Union. One day the Turkic nations will unite, the Islamic world will unite. It will bring peace to the whole region. His wonderful ideal is about to be realized. There is too little left insha’Allah. Turkey is insha’Allah in duty as a nation to make the world live in peace, with love, friendship, brotherhood, modernity, republicanism, democracy, humanity and beauty; and to encourage and protect it. Our heroic army and our heroic nation has this excellent mission insha’Allah. It should not be forgotten that in every condition communism should be crashed wherever it is. So he did not allow communism and fascism. I will recite you a verse from the Qur’an. Surat az-Zumar, 41: “We have sent down to you the Book for mankind with truth. So whoever is guided is guided to his own good and whoever is misguided, it is to his detriment. You are not set over them as a guardian.” There are very beautiful words in the Torah compatible with the Qur’an. Some of which are unchanged words, Allah knows the truth. For example from the Proverbs: “Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path.”Look how beautiful, for example it says: “for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.” For example, it says: “Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” It says “Wisdom is too high for a fool”. (It says that the wisdom is unreachable for a fool. It says for example that “He who plots evil will be known as a schemer.” It says, “The schemes of folly are sin”, that is, scheming, the schemes of folly are sin. It says, “men detest a mocker”. Mocking is not a good thing. Everybody hates a mocker. Insha’Allah.
RABBI FROMAN: So your teacher read the Holy Qur’an and read the Wisdom of Solomon and this is no wonder that the words of Qur’an and the words of Solomon are going in the same direction. Because these Books are the words of God, those Books are the words of One God. So that’s exactly the direction that we have to go, in the direction of your teacher to find the word of God in Turkish, in Arabic, in English, in Hebrew, in every language in this Book, in this Book, in all the books of God, all the Books that God has given us in order to guide us to the right direction which is of course the way to Him, to Himself. His name again and again I remember, that in Arabic and in Hebrew the very name of God is Salam or Shalom. And he works for God, he works for Shalom.
ADNAN OKTAR: Of course Judaism and Islam are particularly very much alike. We believe in One Allah, we believe in all the Prophets, we believe in the angels, we believe in the Hereafter, our belief in the Hereafter is the same. There’s also daily prayer (salat) in Judaism, the Jews also take ablution and pray. There are video shootings about that. They fast as well. The adultery is forbidden, the theft, killing of innocent people are forbidden as well. Loving your neighbors, protecting them are also ordered (fardh) in the Torah.
