Ynetnews:
A Saudi-backed center to promote interfaith dialogue worldwide began work in Vienna on Monday by bringing hundreds of religious activists together to discuss how to promote understanding among different beliefs.
Named after Saudi King Abdullah, the center is a welcome boost for bridge-building between faiths in an era of financial austerity but has drawn criticism because Saudi Arabia enforces a strict Islam and bans non-Muslim religious practice……………………
The surprise of the evening was unquestionably the appointment of Rabbi David Rosen from Israel as a member of the center’s board of directors.
………………… Rosen, an Orthodox rabbi from Jerusalem, serves as the international director of interreligious affairs of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and as an advisor on interreligious affairs to Israel’s Chief Rabbinate.
His selection is surprising in light of the extreme sensitivity in appointing an Israeli personality to a Saudi-initiated and sponsored center.
The appointment was part of a secret move devised over several years, which reached its peak about three weeks ago in a meeting between the Saudi king and the Israeli rabbi at Abdullah’s summer residence in Casablanca, Morocco.
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Interfaith tolerance, Israel