Looking Out  10.12 23 

Since 7 October, I received from friends numerous videos and commentary-like messages on the

Middle East conflict via WhatsApp. As an ex-journalist, I found many of these videos and messages lacking in impartiality and having the subtle intention of portraying one side as evil and the devil.

With the current Middle East conflict being an entanglement of political, religious and historical

disputes, does it help us to see the issue with clarity if we put the blame squarely on one side? Does

taking an antagonistic stance help to resolve a controversy? While I was pondering over these questions, I read about the letters exchanged between the Muslim and Jewish leaders in Singapore after October 7. Their letters gave me hope that the differences in faith and cultural root need not bend the way we discern right from wrong and that an expression of goodwill even in times of conflict is still possible. Our souls can rise above rockets and missiles. There is a lot I can learn from the two leaders. Below is a gist of their letters. To the Chief Rabbi Mordechai Abergel, Mufti Nazirudin Mohd Nasir wrote: "We read with deep sadness, worry and grief, the escalation of conflict and violence affecting Jews and Muslims in Israel and Palestine…” “There is no place and no justification for any form of violence and brutality on civilians by anyone, including those by Hamas, or in any retaliatory response…We fear and weep for the sad state of human soul in this time of unprecedented violence and suffering in the world, how hatred will be entrenched in the minds of the victims, how conflict will be exploited to sow enmity between communities, how compassion and forgiveness will be replaced with anger and vengeance. Citing the harmonious co-existence of different ethnic and religious communities in Singapore as a good model for the conflict zones, Mufti Nazirudin wrote: “I pray and hope that both the Jewish and Muslim communities in the conflict zones can work collectively to liberate themselves from being defined and constrained by the politics of the day and seek to live with a different model of respect, tolerance and harmony". In his reply, Rabbi Abergel said that it was "heart-warming and encouraging" to receive Dr Nazirudin's letter expressing the solidarity of the Muslim community with the Jewish community in Singapore. “Our hearts and prayers are also with innocent Palestinian civilians who have lost their lives in this senseless conflict, and we do hope and pray for a peaceful and long-lasting solution to this war and a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinian people as elusive as it might seem at this moment,” Rabbi Abergel wrote.