Dear Veronica, your project, Yad be Yad, was initiated in 2021. Could you provide a brief overview of the circumstances surrounding its establishment?

Yad be Yad was established in 2021 by Kubus e.V. as a “sister project” to Schalom und Salam, which began a year earlier in 2020. At the heart of Schalom und Salam is the aim of bringing together young people who are affected by antisemitism and racism, including Jews, Muslims, and migrants, as well as those interested in Jewish and Muslim life who wish to engage in combating antisemitism and racism. We provide informal spaces where young people can connect and have open discussions, alongside offering trainings, such as the “Ambassadors Training,” where participants gain knowledge and skills to actively combat discrimination and promote the visibility of marginalized perspectives within their communities.

Yad be Yad takes this mission a step further by offering participants the opportunity to lead workshops in schools and for adults in various settings. Our initiative has two main objectives:

•  To empower participants, helping them gain experience and develop professional skills as trainers specializing in anti-discrimination and educational outreach to diverse audiences.
•  To expand beyond our immediate community and engage a broader society with our message, thereby avoiding the “addressing those who already agree with us” effect—one of the most common criticisms of dialogue projects like ours.

Jewish-Muslim dialogue is an essential approach in your work. How do you define realistic impact in intercommunal and interfaith programs? Can you share some significant moments of impact?

We have seen a significant impact as young people participating in our programs become empowered in their personal and professional lives. They form friendships, initiate joint projects, and gain new inspiration and skills for their work as educators, combatting antisemitism, racism, and discrimination.

One of our highlights was an educational trip organized in collaboration with the “Schalom und Salam” project (Kubus e.V.). We traveled to Munich with a group of young Muslims, Jews, migrants, and others. One of the goals of the trip was to explore the history of the 1972 Munich terror attack. During the trip, we also met with activists from “München erinnern!”, an initiative raising awareness about a right-wing racist terror attack, which claimed the lives of nine young people in Munich in 2016. In both cases, authorities failed, leaving the victims’ families feeling abandoned. The young participants learned that antisemitism and racism are issues that affect all segments of society and that it is crucial for us to unite and speak out against discrimination, violence, and injustice. We also connected with activists from the Jewish-Muslim initiative “Ausarten” and visited the Jewish Museum in Munich. The three days we spent together provided ample time for the participants to engage in meaningful conversations, which fostered strong bonds and a sense of solidarity.

How can third parties support interfaith goals and foster understanding without patronizing the affected communities?

First and foremost, third parties should view themselves as active participants in the dialogue process rather than mere “observers” or facilitators. This is because both majority and minority groups are integral parts of society and must collaborate towards a shared objective: strengthening democratic values and preventing illiberal forces from hijacking discussions to divide minority communities or incite hatred against them.

It is yet important to acknowledge the power imbalances that exist between groups. Therefore, it is necessary to create separate, facilitated spaces where majority groups can reflect on their motivations and any biases they may project onto minority groups. Similarly, it is essential to provide safe spaces for minority communities to express themselves freely.

From the perspective of third parties or majority groups, it is crucial to avoid “tokenism” when providing a platform to minority voices. This means recognizing that no single individual can represent an entire community. Jewish, Muslim, and migrant communities in Germany and Europe are highly diverse, and this diversity should be accurately represented in the public sphere, media, educational settings, and beyond.

To frame this positively, third parties should provide platforms that amplify diverse voices within a community, highlighting the intersectional forms of discrimination and stereotypes that may exist.

When it comes specifically to Jewish-Muslim dialogue, it is essential that minorities are not portrayed or perceived solely as victims or as perpetrators of discrimination and prejudice. For instance, Jews in Germany are often primarily viewed as victims of antisemitism, while Muslims are frequently associated with antisemitism, particularly in the context of discussions about Israel and Palestine. However, it is vital to recognize that the Jewish community is diverse and not immune to holding prejudices, just as it is inappropriate to generalize or stigmatize Muslims. Jews should be protected from antisemitism without being reduced to victims alone. In relation to the Muslim community, it is important to counter stigmatization by emphasizing that antisemitism, racism, and discrimination are societal issues that affect everyone. Additionally, it should be acknowledged that Muslims and migrant communities themselves are affected by Islamophobia and racism, issues for which there is often insufficient awareness. Our educational initiatives aim to bridge these knowledge and awareness gaps, fostering greater understanding and solidarity across communities.

In light of recent violent developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, how has the Yad be Yad project adjusted its approach to addressing sensitive issues?

We responded by creating open dialogue spaces for students, allowing them to express their feelings about the conflict and discuss how debates around it impact young Jewish and Muslim individuals. We also addressed the topic of misinformation and fake news on social media, as many young people obtain their knowledge on this subject from platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

We emphasize that we are not experts on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and it is important for us to convey that neither Jews nor Muslims should be directly associated with it. While many are indeed affected—either directly or through the rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia as a result of “the conflict around the conflict” we witness in Germany and globally—Jews and Muslims should not be presumed to be experts on the subject. The history of the conflict is very complex; it involves more parties than only Jews and Palestinians and is deeply intertwined with the history of Europe, the holocaust, and colonialism. Moreover, antisemitism and Islamophobia are not issues that burden only these two communities; they are societal problems that require a collective response.

We often work with classes that have a significant number of Muslim students or students who experience racism. It is essential for us to address both antisemitism and racism together, ensuring that these students feel acknowledged and understood, as they often perceive education on antisemitism as merely “content” imposed upon them without valuing their perspectives.

When we discuss the debates surrounding Israel and Palestine, we not only cover what is considered antisemitism in this context but also explore how racism and Islamophobia manifest in these discussions. For instance, we highlight how some political actors exploit the fight against antisemitism to promote racism, showing that their interest is to divide minority groups rather than protect Jewish life.

Through our workshops, led by Jewish-Muslim tandems, we strive to create an environment of mutual learning and dialogue about various forms of discrimination (and their intersections), democracy, and peaceful coexistence.