First Jewish-Muslim women’s conference to take place next week

The first ever Jewish and Muslim women’s conference being in London held next week has been hailed as a “genuine first” for interfaith efforts.

The event at the University of Westminster is being organised by Nisa-Nashim, the UK’s only Jewish Muslim Women’s Network, with delegates discussing the conference’s theme: ‘challenging the narrative.’

The keynote speaker is Rev. Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons and Chaplain to the Queen, who will be presenting alongside Iman Abou Atta, the deputy director of the the Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) Programme.

Other speakers include Julie Siddiqi, the former head of the Islamic Society of Britain, and two journalists – Remona Aly, a commentator and director of communications for Exploring Islam Foundation, and Roohi Hasan, a senior producer working at ITN for ITV’s National News.

Representing the Jewish community will be Dina Brawer, founder of Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance in the UK, Amanda Bomsztyk, a regional director of the Community Security Trust, Reform Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers and Mitzvah Day founder Laura Marks.

Organisers said the sessions would cover “everything from racism and education to fashion and yoga,” and that the conference aimed “to bring the Jewish and Muslim communities together through the women, to empower the women in both communities and to start to change negative misconceptions”.