Most efforts to counter antisemitism rely on tolerance — a thin and often fragile disposition that asks little of the communities it binds. Drawing on my forthcoming book, Covenantal Pluralism: The Geopolitics of Interfaith Religious Freedom (Springer, 2026), in this talk I argue that durable resistance to antisemitism depends instead on structures of mutual obligation among religious communities, in which the security of one tradition is understood as bound to the security of the others. I trace how interfaith religious freedom operates as geopolitics as much as ethics, and what that reframing means for confronting antisemitism in Muslim-majority and diaspora contexts alike. I close with the practical implications for institutions — universities, foundations, and interfaith initiatives — seeking strategies that outlast the moment.
Iqbal S. Akhtar, Florida International University
Iqbal S. Akhtar, Ph.D., teaches at Florida International University and is Executive Director of the East-West Foundation. His research addresses religion, pluralism, and interfaith religious freedom, and he is the author of Covenantal Pluralism: The Geopolitics of Interfaith Religious Freedom (Springer, 2026).
Made possible by a generous gift from the Benjamin Zucker Family Fund.
