Euro-Asian Jewish Congress head: War with Hamas is not confrontation with Islam

Michael Mirilashvili, President of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, in a pre-recorded video address delivered at Joint Perspectives, a conference hosted by the German newspaper WELT and The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, said that the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress does not view the war with Hamas as a confrontation with Islam as a whole.

“Hamas terrorists, like other radical Islamists, may claim to be the true representatives of Muslims.

Still, we know that Islam, like other Abrahamic religions, is based on the ideals of peace, cooperation, and respect for others,” he said, stating that the Abraham Accords have opened the door to unprecedented cooperation between Israel and the Gulf countries.

Even though the war with Hamas has unleashed a wave of antisemitism around the world, Mirilashvili expressed the hope that “Education, proactive diplomacy and peaceful dialogue keep us dreaming that maybe one day we will speak of antisemitism in the past tense.”

Israeli tech helped the region

He noted that before the war, Watergen, a company that he heads that creates drinking water from moisture in the air, had installed several of its devices in Gaza, where people were suffering from a shortage of clean drinking water.

“The reality has changed since then, but the brutal war unleashed by Hamas terrorists won’t mislead us or harden our hearts.

I am convinced that if society eliminates its radical ideology, opposes lies and propaganda, admits mistakes, and chooses to cherish every human life, everything can change in less than a generation… We will continue to fulfill our essential mission in the world to be a light to the nations, and together with those who believe in peaceful coexistence, we will build a more confident, sustainable, and peaceful future for us and the entire region.”

This article was written in cooperation with the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.