JERUSALEM - Israeli diplomats will court moderate Muslim leaders in Europe to counteract the sway of Islamists hostile to the Jewish state, a Foreign Ministry official said on Thursday.
The initiative was announced as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
made a fence-mending visit to France, among European nations where Jews have complained of anti-Semitism among Muslims sympathetic to a 4 1/2-year-old Palestinian revolt.
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Israeli embassies in Europe have long kept track of local Islamists whose rhetoric is believed to have stoked anti-Jewish sentiment. Reda Mansour, a veteran diplomat from Israel's Druze Arab minority, said moderate Muslims would now also be sought.
Finding the silent voice
"We will continue to search out and identify the extremist entities who encourage anti-Semitism and are sometimes involved in inciting terrorism," Mansour told Israel's Army Radio.
"But the novel element here is that we also want to find the silent voice - to give it a means of speaking out so that it will condemn terror, condemn anti-Semitism, and connect with the local Jewish communities for the sake of joint civil actions."
Sharon's plan to withdraw from the occupied Gaza Strip in mid-August has won favor in Europe after a period of chilly relations. Europeans see the pullout as a basis for launching a "road map" peace plan for a Palestinian state beside Israel.
This month's al-Qaeda-style suicide bombings in London raised calls for more inter-faith dialogue, and the European Union promised improved measures against Islamist violence.
Israel has full diplomatic relations with two Arab Muslim states, Egypt and Jordan, and its foreign minister has vowed to expand regional ties.
Mansour did not give a start-date for the outreach campaign in Europe, but said orders were issued to Israeli embassies throughout the continent.
"Of course, I suppose that naturally there will be more activity in places with large Islamic communities, like Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, countries like that," he said.
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