New Delhi, 13 August 2012: The Ambassador of Israel, Mr. Alon Ushpiz, hosted an Iftar dinner last Thursday for over 50 prominent members of the Muslim community in India. Civil society figures, senior politicians, religious leaders, artists, academicians and journalists attended the first Iftar dinner hosted by an Israeli Ambassador in New Delhi. In 2010, the Ambassador of Israel hosted the traditional feast in honour of the holy month of Ramzan in the Dargah Sharif in Ajmer.

 

After the crowd broke the fast with dates from Israel, Ambassador Ushpiz spoke of the ancient kinship and brotherhood between the Jewish and Muslim communities in India. “It is always heartwarming and inspires hope to see that wherever Jews lived – in Kerala, Bombay, Calcutta, Ahmedabad – their immediate neighbors were almost always Muslims”, Ambassador Ushpiz said. “Nearly everywhere in India, whenever a Jew finished his morning prayers and walked out of the synagogue, he would see his Muslim neighbour walk out of a mosque just next door. We should all take a lesson from this”, he added.

 

The Ambassador concluded his words wishing that in next year's Ramzan, peace and prosperity in West Asia and in South Asia will be celebrated.