ON RECOGNIZING THE ENEMY:

Haredi rabbis seek 'hudna' with Hamas (Matthew Wagner, 8/11/06, THE JERUSALEM POST)

Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Yehuda Leib Steinman, a leading Ashkenazi haredi spiritual leader, have given their blessing to a meeting with Hamas aimed at reaching a hudna (Arabic for cease-fire) that could save Jewish lives. [...]

[R]abbi Shmuel Jakobovits, son of former chief rabbi of Britain Immanuel Jakobovits] , who is the dean of Harav Lord Jakobovits Torah Institute of Contemporary Issues in Jerusalem, said that religious leaders, both Jewish and Muslim, had much in common and could accomplish much more than politicians.

"The Islamic world has deep concerns about the penetration of liberal, secular values and lifestyles into the Middle East. A major factor in the conflict between radical Islam and the Western world is Islam's opposition to secular lifestyle and ideology.

"The haredi community understands their sensitivities and mentality and feels threatened by the same phenomena. The haredi community could play a key role in dialogue between the West and Islam because we live in two worlds, one deeply religious and the other liberal and pluralistic. We understand that the secular mind is different from the religious mind.

"Today in the West the assumption in dealing with Muslim extremism is that moderation and tolerance are the keys. But what the West does not understand is that there is something threatening in that approach, both to the haredi mind and to a deeply Islamic mind. Both haredim and Muslims see multicultural society as an anathema."