1,000 Join Muslim ‘Ring of Peace’ Outside Oslo Shul

More than 1,000 people formed a “ring of peace” Motzoei Shabbos outside Oslo’s main shul at the initiative of a group of young Muslims.

The event in the Norwegian capital follows a series of attacks against Jews in Europe, including the terror attacks in Paris in January and in neighboring Denmark last week.

“The feelings are very mixed,” said Rabbi Shaul Wilhelm, Director of Chabad of Oslo, describing the reaction of the local Jewish community to the demonstration. “On one side of our minds we are very happy that people want to stretch out their hand in peace. On the other side, there is a certain ambivalence…a week after Dan Uzan [the Jewish victim of the Copenhagen attack] was killed attention has been taken off of security by this gathering with little real meaning. Few people feel that this ring of peace would dissuade anyone who was, chas v’shalom, planning an attack. Still, that doesn’t mean it is necessarily a bad thing to do.”

One of the eight independent organizers of the event in Oslo, Hajrah Arshad, said the gathering shows “that Islam is about love and unity.”

“We want to demonstrate that Jews and Muslims do not hate each other,” co-organizer Zeeshan Abdullah told the crowd, standing in a half-circle before the white synagogue. “We do not want individuals to define what Islam is for the rest of us.”

“There are many more peace-mongers than warmongers,” he added.

Norway’s Chief Rabbi Michael Melchior sang a Motzoei Shabbos song outside the shul, before the large crowd holding hands.

Co-organizer Hassan Raja said it was the first time he heard the song.

Ervin Kohn, head of Oslo’s Jewish community, called the gathering in sub-zero temperatures “unique.”

Several European countries have seen an increase in anti-Semitic incidents recently, starting when the conflict between Israel and Palestinian terrorists in Gaza intensified last year.

In Paris, three Muslim gunmen killed 17 people at a kosher grocery and the offices of weekly Charlie Hebdo and elsewhere in early January. Last week a single assailant in Copenhagen killed a Jewish security guard outside a synagogue and a Danish artist attending a free speech event.

“There is no question that there is a real fear among Jews not only here, but in Stockholm, Copenhagen and all over Europe. There is a large Muslim population in Norway, and among it there is a good amount of radicalization,” said Rabbi Wilhelm. “It was very disheartening for Jews in Europe that 500 people were not embarrassed to attend the funeral of the terrorist in Denmark.”

Rabbi Wilhelm said that the Norwegian government had gone to great lengths to provide additional security to the Jewish community, saying that the city’s main shul had a large armed police presence.

“In an interesting way, this [recent violence] has moved a lot of people to be involved in the community,” he said. “Many people came to shul this Shabbos who, to say the least, we do not usually see there. It makes people want to identify with something.”

This article appeared in print on page 6 of the February 23rd, 2015 edition of Hamodia.