9/11 marked a historic shift in the way Muslims were related to in America. While a negative Islamophobic trend developed, a parallel process happened. Israeli and Palestinian relations went from bad to worse. This perfect storm of 9/11+ Intifada made Jewish-Muslim dialog impossible. Both sides found no common ground.

Within the Jewish community there have been other voices, espcially since Obama got elected. Theses voices finally won the day. Jewish leadership is now interested in dialog, using the different communities as a bridge.

The challenge is the politics of the Mid East, which we in our dialog have shown, can be part of an ongoing conversation. I have no doubt that many Jews might have realized that it is time to rebuild relations and stop listening to the Islamophobhic diatribe coming from weird think tanks.