Abdullah T. Antepli, Associate Professor of the Practice of Interfaith Relations at Duke University. Photo: Twitter

A Muslim-American imam and academic at Duke University issued a passionate appeal to confront antisemitism in the Muslim community following the hostage situation at the Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.

Abdullah T. Antepli, an Associate Professor of the Practice of Interfaith Relations at Duke University, wrote on Twitter, “We North American Muslims need to have the morally required tough conversations about those ‘polite Zionists are our enemies,’ ‘The Benjamins!!!’ voices and realities within our communities.”

Antepli was referencing antisemitic statements made in December by Council on American–Islamic Relations official Zahra Billoo and by US Rep. Ilhan Omar in 2019.

“We MUST!” he continued, “Without ands and buts, without any further denial, dismissal and or trivializing of the issues … we need to honestly discuss the increasing antisemitism within various Muslim communities.”

Antepli is also the founder and co-director of the Muslim Leadership Initiative at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

“Yes, we Muslims living [in] North America undeniably have an increasing antisemitism problem and seemingly we have yet to even begin to address the issue honestly, morally and accurately… but again we have to,” he said Sunday.

“I am really sick and tired of the overall defensiveness and tribal nature of our reaction to this alarming internal problem,” he stated. “We are better than this! We can no longer pretend the problems of antisemitism within us does not exist.”

The problem, he asserted, is “not going anywhere. Quite the contrary, [it’s] getting worse.”

British citizen Malik Faisal Akram, who has been identified as the hostage-taker in Saturday’s standoff, had demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving a US prison sentence in Fort Worth, Texas after being convicted in 2010 of shooting at US soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan.

Speaking to the Washington Post on Monday, Antepli elaborated, “It’s as if there is no context in which these things are happening.”

“We have every right to be pro-Palestinian; American Muslims have to make this a pillar of our faith life, but increasingly, this is becoming a zero-sum game, and subtly veiled antisemitism is creeping, hiding behind being pro-Palestine — and we have to stop this denial,” he said. “Pay attention to the last 10 to 15 years.”