In the News

The United States is a beacon for religious freedom. That’s a regrettably rare thing around the world. Pew Research’s 2022 Report on Government Restrictions on Religion showed that restrictions in 198 countries and territories peaked in 2022. President Donald Trump’s second term thus presents a unique opportunity to cement his legacy in championing global religious freedom.

President Trump continues Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy as he works to bring peace to the Middle East President Donald Trump must continue to build on Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision By MARC SCHNEIER January 17, 2025 FFEU President Rabbi Marc Schneier, author of Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Jewish Community, in conversation with Martin Luther King III President Donald Trump’s second-term inauguration on January 20, 2025, will coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day,...

Even when deep tensions exist we must focus on the process of reconciliation, argues Rabbi Marc Schneier By Rabbi Marc Schneier December 17, 2024, 7:35 pm   The recent firebombing at the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, a house of worship built by Holocaust survivors, left the Australian Jewish community and world Jewry in a state of outrage. This antisemitism attack follows the kidnapping and the killing of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates by terrorists. I was personally...

For the past year, the world has witnessed a litany of demonstrations at the highest level of tensions between Muslims and Jews beyond the Middle East. By MARC SCHNEIER NOVEMBER 17, 2024 02:59 We are in the midst of a raging conflict between Muslims and Jews worldwide. Last Thursday evening, Amsterdam was the scene of one of the most disgraceful and despicable antisemitic acts in Europe since World War II. Pro-Palestinian assailants attacked Israeli fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team in the...

Ultra-Orthodox Jews pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, Thursday, Sept 21, 2006. The two-day festival of Rosh Hashanah that marks the beginning of the Jewish new year will start at sunset Friday. Thousands of Jews are expected to visit the holy sites in the Old City during the holiday period. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) The horrific events of October 7, when Hamas unleashed a brutal attack, were not just an act of extreme violence; they were also a calculated attempt to destabilize...

(Photo by Abdel Ghani Bashir/AFP via Getty Images) Muslim worshippers around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca on June 4, 2024 as pilgrims arrive ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage. Diplomatic normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel is often scrutinized through a geopolitical lens, overshadowing its profound interreligious implications for Muslims and Jews worldwide. Many analysts view Saudi-Israeli normalization through the prisms...

Rabbi Marc Schneier, President of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, wrote in Arab News that any Saudi involvement in Gaza’s reconstruction and normalization of relations with Israel will only come with a promise of progress toward a two-state solution. In his article, the rabbi urged Netanyahu: “This historic opportunity must be embraced.” By Itamar Eichner January 31, 2024 Against the backdrop of the many questions about the “day after” in the Gaza Strip, Rabbi...