Austrian Press Agency (05/11/2010)
“The first step for young people to create together the power to forge a link between possibility and reality - the pronunciation of our names is no barrier for friendships.”
The first Muslim-Jewish Conference (MJC) 2010 will take place in Vienna from August 1 – 6. Participants will include sixty students from throughout the world having the common goal of establishing peaceful relations between both religions. The conference will feature discussions, lectures, open dialogue panels and social events.
The idea of the project stems from two Austrian students, Ilja Sichrovsky and Matthias Gattermeier, who due to their experiences attending international student conferences, were driven by the desire to create cultural awareness between young aspiring Jewish and Muslim academics. Today, the MJC committee harbors over twenty volunteers from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and America – specifically, Austria, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States of America.
Ilja Sichrovsky, founder and Secretary General of the MJC states: “Representing the
University of Vienna at numerous international student conferences, I have witnessed first-hand the inevitable misunderstanding and prejudices between young Muslims and Jews. The Muslim Jewish Conference was called to life to be the first step for young people to create together the power to forge a link between possibility and reality because the pronunciation of our names is no barrier for friendships.”
The Muslim Jewish Conference is officially endorsed by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project is partly financed by the Karl Kahane Foundation, as well as by private donors. Our vision is to make the MJC an annual conference, rotating in different countries each year, and to provide a platform for real change in the interaction between Muslim and Jewish communities. The participants represent a new generation of thinkers and upcoming opinion leaders who are connected by their joint belief in a new era of cooperation.