Israeli rabbi joins Saudi interfaith

AN INTERFAITH centre established by Saudi Arabia in Europe has an Israeli rabbi on its board.

Rabbi David Rosen is the sole Jewish representative on the nine-member board of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Vienna.

“The fact that the Saudi King has approved an Israeli rabbi to be on the board of the institute is quite significant,” said Rabbi Rosen, who is the Jerusalem-based international director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee.

The most notable thing about the centre — which is due to launch formally later this year — is “where it is coming from,” Rabbi Rosen said. “It’s not just another Arab country, it is the heartland of Islam. For Saudi Arabia to be engaged in and initiating interfaith activity is quite a historic step.

“There are sceptics who say it’s just window-dressing. I don’t think scepticism is misplaced and it’s healthy to have a certain amount of it, as long as it doesn’t incapacitate you from responding positively to potentially significant initiatives.

“If I felt the centre were not living up to its declared purpose or were ever being exploited in a negative way, I could exit. My involvement is a risk but it is an important and necessary risk.”

The centre, which is also funded by Austria and Spain, follows a series of interfaith meetings in Europe sponsored by the Saudis.

“The constructive engagement of Islam with modernity is an existential issue for all of us,” Rabbi Rosen said.

If predictions of an inevitable clash of civilisations between the Islam and the West were borne out, he said, “we are all going to sink”.