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(JTA) — The statement is similar to several that have been made by Jewish groups in recent years: New partnerships with Arab states will promote coexistence in the Middle East.
Besides the group that announced the new coalition last week is the Anti-Defamation League, which is dedicated to fighting for human and civil rights. The country it is partnering with is the United Arab Emirates, an authoritarian state that both the U.S. government and civil rights advocates say has committed widespread such abuses.
The new Manara Regional Coexistence Center in Abu Dhabi will “engage young leaders from the Middle East and North Africa, enabling them to network with their peers and foster a shared commitment to coexistence,” tweet ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt traveled to the UAE to launch the centre.
ADL works with numerous organizations in the United States and beyond to achieve its mission. But Greenblatt told the Jewish Telegraph Agency that he recognizes that working with the UAE can be complicated.
“There’s always an execution risk,” Greenblatt said. “If things go south, there could be a reputational risk. You know, there are specific internal issues in the UAE that are out of our control.”
According to the State Department, these problems include “severe restrictions on free speech and the media” and a “substantial” crackdown on human rights groups, LGBTQ residents and international critics. Its latest human rights review included “credible reports” of arbitrary arrest and detention, the detention of political prisoners, and a lengthy list of other restrictions and abuses reported in the country.
Human rights advocates say the UAE bans free speech, expels political parties, has no free media and tolerates slavery-like conditions for some of its large immigrant workforce, which makes up the vast majority of its residents.
Freedom House, a democracy watchdog, scores UAE 18 out of 100 for its degrees of freedom indicator (“Not Free”) – Includes 5 out of 40 for political rights and 13 out of 60 for civil liberties. It called the UAE press law “one of the strictest in the Arab world”. [which] Regulate all aspects of the media and prohibit criticism of the government. “
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt (right) talks with Manara Regional Coexistence Center Chairman Ali Al Naumi in Abu Dhabi, March 14, 2023. (UAE Embassy in Washington DC Twitter feed)
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, who leads T’ruah, a liberal rabbinical human rights group Have worked with ADL in the pastsaying she was “shocked” by the partnership and that she didn’t understand how ADL could advance its mission under a dictatorship.
“I really don’t understand how any civil rights organization or any organization that claims to be a civil rights organization can justify working with a completely authoritarian government,” she said.
an official from Human Rights Watch criticize the uae It also said the ADL’s mission appeared to be at odds with the authoritarian regime’s values, over an “appalling campaign of repression and censorship of dissent,” among other abuses. (ADL and Human Rights Watch have disagreed over Israel, an issue that has brought ADL into conflict with human rights or civil rights groups. Human Rights Watch says Israeli authorities are guilty of apartheid, a charge ADL has accused known as Inaccurate and offensive. )
“The UAE’s rights record should pay particular attention to organizations that claim to ‘protect democracy and ensure a just and inclusive society for all’,” said Michael Page, deputy director of the group’s Middle East and North Africa division. ADL’s Mission Statement“The UAE’s record includes the detention of dozens of long-serving activists, academics, and lawyers, severe restrictions on an independent civil society, and the maintenance of a restrictive labor governance system that leaves millions of migrant workers vulnerable to abuse.”
The UAE has also drawn criticism from labor rights groups who accuse it of turning a blind eye to abuses by immigrant workers, who make up 90 percent of the workforce. The International Trade Union Confederation accused the country of allowing “modern slavery”. Reported conditions include having employers confiscate passports; making laborers work to pay exorbitant fees to allow them to enter the country; and making laborers live and work in squalid conditions.
An ADL spokesman said the organization was “not aware of any issues related to the Manara Center building” and referred questions about the matter to the UAE embassy in Washington, D.C., which did not respond to a request for comment.
Greenblatt said ADL is bringing its decades of experience promoting civil rights and democracy to the region.
“Again, the UAE has a different tradition than the US in terms of governance, laws and practices,” he said. “ADL as part of the US citizenship structure will have the opportunity to work in the UAE and the wider Gulf region.”
Such a prospect, he said, is “incredibly exciting if we can put into practice some of the things we’ve learned over the course of more than 110 years of hard work.”
The partnership mirrors the sometimes strange one created by the Abraham Accords, which in 2020 normalized relations between Israel and the UAE and three other Arab states. Since those deals, a flurry of initiatives aimed at revitalizing business ties and Jewish life in Arab countries has been launched, while Dubai, the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, has become a holiday destination for Israelis.
Greenblatt said ADL’s venture would help address a neglected part of the agreement: human-to-human contact.
“It’s worth trying to find ways to bring the people of the region — Muslims, Christians and Jews of different races and nationalities — together for the greater good,” he said.
T’ruah’s Jacobs says this view is naive. There is no “nuance” between the U.S. and the UAE, she said.
“They’re not stupid,” she said of the UAE’s rulers. “They know what international law is.”
A number of other Jewish and civil rights organizations that work with ADL, including the American Jewish Committee and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, did not respond to requests for comment.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Alliance for Reform Judaism, said he welcomes the opportunity for Jewish organizations to take their values into unfamiliar territory. He likened the criticism of ADL to the flak he received a few years ago when he met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been accused of exacerbating the country’s already severe record of human rights abuses. Bin Salman was subsequently accused of ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“People say, well, how do we ever meet people like this? The answer is, how can you try to build a more diverse and respectful community,” he said in an interview. “And we’re not just doing it in places that are already very friendly. I think wherever we are, that’s a challenge for us, you know, Jonathan Greenblatt and the ADL have made it as A very common mission. It’s an important one.”
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