Muslims & Jews — a long history of coexistence that defies the recent horrific street clashes between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs.

IN THE NEWS:

Flare-ups of military conflict between Israel and Hamas do, unfortunately, occur from time to time. Last month was a prime example of it. But what was different last month… more frightening and still more unfortunate, was the rare and bloody clashes in Israel itself — between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs.

What is fortunate and heartwarming is that many Israelis and Palestinians were saying that these conflicts should not be interpreted as between the peoples of two religions — Muslims and Jews.

To better understand the long history of Jews and Muslims, we spoke with Professor Michael Pytlik, who teaches in the Department of Anthropology and Religious Studies at Oakland University, in Rochester, Michigan.

You can listen to his podcast conversation on Apple and Spotify, and on ThePeel.news homepage.

IN THE PAST:

As it turns out, Islam’s history became intertwined with Judaism from year one of the Muslim calendar, the year in which Islam’s Prophet Mohammed left Mecca for Medina. There he interacted with established Jewish tribes and learned about their monotheistic…