These are dangerous times.

There are organized forces at work in the West  exploiting every opportunity to foster Islamophobia  -- in other words to fan fear of Muslims into hatred of Muslims by every means possible. The most obvious way is to take periodic examples of extremism among Muslims and parade those brutal, murderous acts of extremists into the generalization that these pockets of extremism are Islam. And with that message the Muslim -haters ironically share the same perspective of what Islam is, with Al Qaeda and its like.

Of course few people in the West pause to consider that a far greater number of Muslims have been slain by Al Qaeda and its various affiliates than Christians and Jews.

And  in the difficult circumstances that Arab Christians have found themselves in Egypt and Iraq, Islamophobes  magnify and exaggerate the difficulties.They suggest that there is wave of terror ,  a veritable pogrom of Christians from one end of  Egypt to the other.

And finally Islamophobes take available opportunities to provoke Muslim rage -- and rage is one of the problems that the Prophet Muhammed, Peace be Upon him, warned his Companions to beware of  as  it is the worst of human weaknesses. The Islamophobes consciously undertake projects like burning the Quran or more recently  producing an  equally obscene  and  obscure trailer for a video "The Innocence of Muslims"  - a film described quite accurately as "disgusting" by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,  -- knowing full well that this film and the tragic but predictable violent reaction by enraged Muslims will add still more fuel for the fire of hatred that Islamophobes are stoking in the West.

Arab West Report -- the newsletter of Arab West Foundation, reporting from Cairo is providing Christian religious leaders committed to Inter Faith engagement as well as media be it Christian or secular, throughout the West ( but in particular in Europe) with investigative journalism that puts events into fact-finding perspective Arab West Report is the heroic fireman confronting raging crises in Muslim-Christian relations.

At the same time Dr. "Kees" Cornelis Hulsman, director of the  Arab West Foundation works tirelessly both here in and Europe to get Muslims and Christians  of all persuasions or sect -- be they clergy or laity -- to engage not only in dialogue but in projects that engage both communities to work together in the spirit of compassion, the love of God and  love of the neighbor. The Foundation's work is worthy of support from both Muslims and Christians, worthy of support in the East as well as the West...worthy of your support.

Yours,