VIENNA
\nMore than 150 students crowded into a room at an Austrian high school to hear an unlikely duo speak \u2014 imam Ramazan Demir and rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister.
\nThe two men\u2019s talks, educating students about their religions, have taken on additional pertinence since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel\u2019s subsequent relentless bombing of Gaza.
\nSince then Austria has seen a rise in both anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim acts, as elsewhere in Europe.
\n\u201cWe must separate religion from politics,\u201d rabbi Hofmeister, 48, told the students, while imam Demir, 38, nodded in support.
\n\u201cThis is not a religious war, it is a political conflict, a terrible conflict that must not impact our communities here in Europe,\u201d Hofmeister added.
\nThe two volunteers are in high demand because \u201cjust our friendship alone defies stereotypes,\u201d according to Demir.
\nTheir diaries are packed until June, with the pair visiting some 30 Austrian schools.
\nDuring last week\u2019s two-hour discussion at a high school in a working-class suburb of the capital, questions came thick and fast from the students aged 16 to 18.
\nA livestream allowed those unable to get a seat in the large hall to hear them explain how Jews and Muslims pray to the differences between kosher and halal.
\nThe two bearded men \u2014 one wearing a kufi cap, the other a wide-brimmed fedora hat \u2014 met 10 years ago during an inter-religious project and have since worked together, traveling to Turkiye, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
\nThe Gaza war has not affected their friendship, they say.
\n\u201cWe want there to be peace, without any ifs and whens,\u201d Demir said, while Hofmeister added that he was \u201cglad they started to cooperate so early on to be able to address the current crisis.\u201d
\nThe war started when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
\nBut concern has mounted amid the high civilian death toll from Israel\u2019s retaliatory campaign, now at almost 30,000, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
\nThe Vienna school where the pair were speaking has 1,200 students of 63 different nationalities, although none identify as Jewish.
\nAt each break, numerous students crowd around the duo, who use humor to lighten the atmosphere.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s interesting to see how similar religions are,\u201d 17-year-old Estella Dolas told AFP.
\nAustria is a majority Catholic country, with Muslims making up around 8 percent of the population. Only 0.1 percent \u2014 just 5,400 people \u2014 declared themselves as Jewish in the 2021 census.
\nSchool director Inge Joebstl, 55, said the rapport and respect between the two men, who spoke \u201con an equal footing,\u201d made the students more receptive.
\nEspecially since many of them will otherwise look for answers on social networks where \u201cself-proclaimed experts converted two years ago explain to them what Islam is,\u201d warned Demir.
\n\u201cAfter we leave, the students may not remember everything we told them,\u201d admitted Hofmeister.
\n\u201cBut they will remember that an imam and a rabbi came to their school and that they got along well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
VIENNA More than 150 students crowded into a room at an Austrian high school to hear an unlikely duo speak \u2014 imam Ramazan Demir and rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister. The two men\u2019s talks, educating students about their religions, have taken on additional pertinence since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel\u2019s subsequent relentless bombing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-390649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n