Muslims must reject anti-Semitism

Michael Gerson rightly states in the Daily Herald this month: "None of this requires us to believe that [Congresswoman Ilhan] Omar is a wise or thoughtful public figure. She isn't. She traffics in the worst anti-Semitic tropes."

But anti-Semitic statements like Omar's do not arise as isolated cases, but are endemic in Islamic communities where an anti-Semitic imagination drives many to believe that Jews run the world.

As Fareed Zakaria wrote in February: "Muslims should be particularly thoughtful when speaking about these issues because anti-Semitism has spread through the Islamic world like a cancer. (…) a survey in more than 100 countries of attitudes toward Jews found that anti-Semitism was twice as common among Muslims as among Christians (…)."

As a young man in Lebanon, I saw firsthand how Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood recruited impressionable youth like myself by trafficking in vile anti-Semitism. Now living in the Greater Chicago area, I see the same behavior taking place as leaders of Islamist organizations and radical mosques that have preached, and some are still preaching, anti-Semitism.

It requires an honest assessment of the problem and hard work to isolate and discredit radical demagogues and to encourage moderate leaders. Only then can we help build healthy immigrant communities free of the scourge of anti-Semitism.

Hesham Shehab

Lombard