MABDA Report 24/11/2013

New Zealand to Open First Muslim Forum

Extending harmonious relations with the Muslim community, New Zealand's Ethnic Affairs Minister has welcomed the opening of the Muslim World Forum to discuss the minority’s rich contributions in her country.

“This Forum is a fantastic opportunity for the Muslim community to reflect on its journey so far and discuss its future contribution to New Zealand,” Judith Collins said in a New Zealand Government press release on Friday, November 22.
http://www.onislam.net/english/news/asia-pacific/466237-new-zealand-to-open-first-muslim-forum.html

Venice councilman changes view on Muslims and terror

After a speaker denounced Muslims at a 9/11 memorial service in Venice this year, City Council member Emilio Carlesimo said he agreed with the sentiments that Muslims were unapologetic for terrorism and that they were working to infiltrate Western governments. He called the speech “rousing.”

But Carlesimo has a different view today. For the past two months, Carlesimo has met with a representative for the Council on American-Islamic Relations and a Port Charlotte imam to discuss the faith and Muslims in America.

The change in Carlesimo was evident this week when the keynote speaker at the controversial 9/11 event, Tom Trento, who heads the group The United West, returned to the area to speak to the Nokomis, Osprey, Venice Area Republican Club.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20131121/ARTICLE/131129913/-1/sports?p=1&tc=pg

Jewish-Muslim Outreach In Vienna, Courtesy Of New York Interfaith Activists Rabbi Marc Schneier And Imam Shamsi Ali

New York Rabbi Marc Schneier won a small but significant victory on a recent visit to Vienna – a promise from the head of Austria’s Islamic community to promote Holocaust education among the country’s half a million Muslims.
Invited to an interfaith lunch along with his years-long partner in Jewish-Muslim outreach, Imam Shamsi Ali, Schneier found himself having a “very, very frank exchange” of views with Muslim leader Fuat Sanac, whom the Austrian Jewish community was hosting for the first time.

Dismayed at the apparently low level of awareness among Muslim children about the Holocaust, Schneier asked Sanac whether he would be willing to address this by allowing Jews to carry out an education program in the Muslim community, and, to his surprise, Sanac agreed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/23/jewish-muslim-outreach-vienna_n_4318871.html?utm_hp_ref=interfaith