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ISNA in the News: Support for Gaza Youth Trip to US Holocaust Museum

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) published a story on Tues Dec 21, highlighting ISNA's endorsement of Gaza youth to visit the U.S. Holocaust Museum in a trip planned by the youth and Gazan organizations for Washington D.C.

The endorsement came from ISNA after reports that Hamas had allegedly released criticism towards the Gaza agencies sponsoring the youth trip if it included a visit to the museum.

ISNA believes firmly in the power of interfaith cooperation and education, especially in youth, to break down the barriers of intolerance and promote peace," said ISNA National Director for Interfaith and Community Alliances (IOICA) Dr. Sayyid Syeed.

Please read below for the full JTA article, with ISNA's strong stance on the trip to the museum.

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(JTA) A U.S. Muslim umbrella group strongly endorsed plans to bring Gaza Strip youths to the U.S. Holocaust museum in the wake of Hamas opposition.

The Islamic Society of North America wrote to the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which solicited endorsements in the wake of reports that Hamas, the terrorist group that controls Gaza, had criticized the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for including the museum on a forthcoming U.S. tour for top Gaza students.

"We want to ensure that the UNRWA delegation of students visits the nation’s capital and its various museums and institutions, including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum," Islamic Society national director for the Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances Sayyid Syeed said in a letter Dec. 20 to Rabbi Marc Schneier, the president of the foundation.

"We believe that this museum, in particular, has tremendous educational value and helps visitors appreciate the historical result of unbridled hate and human manipulation. We have taken delegations of Muslim leaders and imams to visit the museum, and each time, we have seen how transformative an experience it is."

Hamas over the weekend called on UNRWA not to include the museum on its tour, Ynet reported.

"UNRWA must focus on materials regarding the rights of the Palestinian refugees without dealing with persecution in other areas of the world," Ynet quoted Hamas as saying. "The memory of the children of Gaza cannot withstand the suffering of all of the persecuted people around the world. The suffering caused by the Jewish occupiers is enough."

Schneier in a statement called the Hamas statement "another example of extremists trying to impose a distorted view of history upon its followers. Fortunately the voices of those who are seeking peace and tolerance between Jews and Muslims are louder than those seeking to further divide us."

UNRWA is the U.N. agency that administers relief and education to Palestinian refugees.

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