A delegation of Indian Muslims that visited Israel last week has evoked a strong reaction, with Muslim organisations and the Urdu press calling for a “social boycott” of delegates. The tour was organised as part of ‘Project Interchange’, an initiative of the American Jewish Council (AJC), as a ‘peace delegation’. Prominent among the delegates were Umar Ilyasi, son of Maulana Jameel Ilyasi (chief of All-India Imams Organisation); Khwaja Iftikhar (the organiser of the Vajpayee Himaayat Committee, formed after the 2002 Gujarat riots); Khwaja Afzaal Nizami (of the Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi); and Abdul Wahid Chishti (of the Ajmer Dargah).

The five-day trip between August 14 and 19 was aimed to “help effect peace between Israelis and Palestinians” but has instead ended up as a cause for several Muslim organisations calling for delegates’ “social boycott”. Their itinerary included meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister and Chief Rabbi. The meeting was a follow-up of the one held in March in New Delhi between prominent Indian Muslim intellectuals and clerics and their Israeli counterparts, along with the Chief Rabbi.

Following the trip, several Muslim organisations, including the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hindi, the Jamaat-e-Islami, All-India Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Bharti Majlis and Milli Council, organised a protest in Delhi and some other cities against “Israeli American aggression”, calling it a sauda (a sellout) and wanting to enforce a “social boycott” of the delegates.

The organisations also held a late-night seminar and meeting on Tuesday at the Jamaat-e-Islami office in New Delhi where they termed the trip as a “betrayal” of sentiments of Indian Muslims.

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