The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.
Last week in Brussels, I sat at a table alongside the chief rabbi of Iran and rabbis serving various communities ranging from Morocco to Kazakhstan to Nigeria. Also present were three European commissioners and the ambassadors of Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Kazakhstan. While some of these rabbis lead tens of thousands of followers, others serve only a few families. The fact that three Muslim-majority governments sent envoys to participate in this dialogue is significant to my core argument.
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I convened this meeting to host the board of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, an organization we established in 2019. The European Union frequently appoints envoys, funds civil society, and negotiates agreements throughout the Muslim world, debating critical issues like migration, security, radicalization, and trade. However, the EU rarely engages in dialogue with the Jewish communities that have inhabited these societies for centuries. For many Europeans, Jewish life in these regions is viewed as a historical artifact, yet it should be an active part of modern diplomatic conversation.
The rabbis present offer something data and reports cannot: lived experience. For generations, Jews in Muslim-majority societies have navigated life as visible minorities, maintaining working relationships with local governments, religious leaders, and neighbors. Iran’s chief rabbi, Yehuda Gerami, informed the commissioners that his community, numbering nearly 20,000, has resided there for over 2,500 years. They do not seek political intervention, but rather practical support and mutual understanding. They are loyal, deeply rooted citizens—a reality Europe must acknowledge.
It would be inaccurate to romanticize this history. Throughout the 20th century, many ancient communities were devastated; the 1941 Farhud pogrom signaled the collapse of Iraqi Jewry, leading to mass displacement, persecution, and the seizure of property. Many of those descendants are now part of the Jewish community in France.
However, collapse does not tell the whole story. Morocco has integrated Jewish heritage into its national identity more profoundly than almost any other Muslim-majority state; in Brussels this week, a rabbi from Casablanca offered prayers for the king. Azerbaijan, a close partner of Israel, honors fallen Jewish soldiers as national heroes. In the Gulf, new communities have emerged following the 2020 Abraham Accords. Jewish life in the Muslim world is characterized by a complex cycle of loss, resilience, and renewal.
This renewal currently faces significant pressure. Since October 2023, Jewish life has become more discreet. In the UAE, it retreated following the 2024 murder of Chabad’s Rabbi Zvi Kogan; in Dagestan, mobs have targeted arriving Jews at Makhachkala airport; and in Tunisia, gunfire near the Ghriba synagogue has caused significant tension. Despite this, the Djerba community—a vital stronghold of indigenous Jewish life—continues to build, and we have recently rebuilt a mikvah in Tunis. None of these communities are responsible for the geopolitical events currently endangering them.
Maintaining these communities is demanding work, involving kosher supervision, marriages, burials, and schooling in areas where Jewish populations are minimal. In 2021, this meant ensuring the safe passage of Zebulon Simentov, once considered the last practicing Jew in Afghanistan. It has also involved welcoming Muslim theology students into an Istanbul synagogue to facilitate honest dialogue. While not everyone leaves with a changed mind, they leave having met actual people rather than responding to abstractions. It requires building trust long before a crisis occurs.
Europe can support this trust using existing mechanisms. Our requests are modest: the recognition of synagogue registrations, the provision of visas for traveling rabbis, the protection of cemeteries, and the safe transport of religious articles. The EU already conducts interfaith work in Syria and trains scholars in Egypt to combat extremism; it should extend these efforts to the Jews of the Muslim world.
Furthermore, Europe should actively introduce young Europeans—including young Muslims—to these living Jewish communities. Inviting rabbis from Istanbul, Casablanca, Baku, Almaty, Abuja, and Tehran into universities and public forums would provide invaluable perspective. No academic syllabus can replace direct conversation with those who have spent decades navigating life as a minority in a Muslim-majority state.
There is a shared interest in this cooperation. Jewish and Muslim communities often defend the same liberties; when religious dietary laws are challenged, both face similar pressures. Rabbis and imams do not need to agree on theology or Middle Eastern politics to collaborate on fundamental rights through practical, democratic cooperation.
Europe often looks to medieval al-Andalus as a flattering precedent—a “golden age” of pluralism that exists safely in the past. While the intellectual flourishing of Córdoba, which blended Muslim, Christian, and Jewish scholarship, was real and shaped much of Europe, it was never the perfect paradise often depicted in nostalgia. Arab writers are often the first to point out that coexistence there often rested on rigid hierarchies and was frequently broken by persecution. Even Maimonides fled Córdoba during the Almohad conquests.
The living examples we see today demand more than mere admiration. Coexistence that is admired in a museum costs nothing; the coexistence practiced in Djerba, Baku, and Istanbul is tested and imperfect, and it requires Europe to take an active role. If I had lost faith in this possibility, I would have retired years ago. Instead, I continue to witness quiet, unheralded acts of friendship every week.
In the meeting in Brussels, I did not see remnants of forgotten populations. I saw vital connections between Europe and the Muslim world. Europe’s failure to utilize these connections is a loss—not just for the Jewish community, but for the entire region.
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik is Chairman and Founder of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States; he serves as a rabbi in Istanbul, Turkey. The organization includes active rabbis in Albania, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Turkey, Tunisia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.
