“We Will Keep Using Our Voices”: Moderate Muslims and Jewish Allies Confront Medea Benjamin on Capitol Hill
Dr. Anila Ali says some 40 Muslims, joined by Jews and Christians, pressed the CODEPINK co-founder on Taliban silence and on who gets to define what a “good Muslim” believes.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Capitol Hill encounter between interfaith activists and the anti-war campaigner Medea Benjamin has set off a fresh debate over who speaks for American Muslims. In a post on X, Muslim faith leader Dr. Anila Ali said a delegation of Muslims and Jews went to the Hill to stand together for interfaith unity, only to be confronted with demands that they defend their presence beside Jewish partners.
According to Ali, around 40 “moderate Muslims,” joined by Jewish and Christian participants, pushed back. FFN is reporting Ali’s account as she published it; Benjamin’s response was not included in the post.
Ali says the group was challenged to justify standing beside Jewish partners at the Capitol. The delegation refused the premise, saying faith and political positions on Palestine are separate questions.
Ali asked why Benjamin did not condemn the Taliban when she went to meet them in Afghanistan, and where the outrage is over the silencing of women and the denial of girls’ education. “Advocacy for women must include them,” she wrote.
Ali argues one can be a Muslim American, oppose #antisemitism and stand with Jewish neighbors, and that political parties should make room for Muslims who challenge Islamism and build bridges across faiths.
The Post, in Full
Dr. Anila Ali MA, MEd @anilaali
We went to Capitol Hill as Muslims and Jews, standing together for interfaith unity. We were confronted with demands from you that we defend our presence beside our Jewish partners.
40 of us moderate Muslims, joined by Jews & Christians pushed back.
Muslim women’s rights matter in Afghanistan, too, we told her. Why did you not condemn Taliban when you went to meet them in Afghanistan, @medeabenjamin? Where is the outrage over the Taliban silencing women and denying girls an education? Advocacy for women must include them.
We can be Muslim Americans, oppose #antisemitism, and stand with our Jewish neighbors. Nobody gets to dictate our beliefs because we are Muslim. Being a Muslim is not dependent on our support for Palestinians. Being a Muslim is incumbent on our support for what is right and to stand with the Abrahamic brothers and sisters, Jews and Christians as our Ahle Kitaab.
So beloved fellow Americans, we the Moderate Muslims are fighting bigotry within our own communities & outside, often at a tremendous personal cost. We don’t need applause. We need support—and an understanding of how difficult this work is.
Every political party, including the Democratic Party, should make room for Muslims who challenge Islamism and build bridges across faiths. however, the Democratic party silenced the majority of the Muslims by promoting the @CAIRNational Islamists. But our voices matter. We will keep using them.
An Abrahamic Table
Central to Ali’s argument is the Quranic term Ahl al-Kitab (“People of the Book”), which she uses to describe Jews and Christians as partners rather than adversaries. Her framing is that Muslim identity rests on standing for what is right, not on a political litmus test.
Why It Matters: Three Fronts
Ali also addressed her fellow citizens directly: moderate Muslims, she wrote, are fighting bigotry within their own communities and outside, “often at a tremendous personal cost.” “We don’t need applause. We need support.”
“Being a Muslim is not dependent on our support for Palestinians. Being a Muslim is incumbent on our support for what is right.”
— Dr. Anila Ali, on X
Her sharpest political line was aimed at the Democratic Party, which she says silenced the majority of Muslims by promoting CAIR-aligned Islamists. That is Ali’s characterization; CAIR and the party have their own accounts of their work, and FFN invites responses from all parties named.
Ali is the founder and president of the American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC), which has hosted Capitol Hill interfaith events, including an interfaith iftar with Hadassah, and in 2026 was reported to lead the first Muslim group to march in New York’s Israel Day Parade.
About Dr. Anila Ali
Dr. Anila Ali, MA, MEd
Dr. Anila Ali is a Pakistani-born American educator, women’s empowerment leader, author and nonprofit executive. She lives in Washington, D.C., and has two children, Sara and Danyal. Open each section below.
Early life & education
Born in Karachi into a family with a public-service tradition: her father was a journalist and diplomat who founded Pakistan’s first news agency, and her mother was a teacher and philanthropist. She studied in London in the 1980s, where she says discrimination shaped her civil-rights outlook, then earned a bachelor’s degree through St. Joseph’s Convent and a master’s from the University of Karachi. In Southern California she earned a Master of Education from Concordia University Irvine. Her LinkedIn profile lists doctoral study at California Southern University, and she is styled “MA, MEd, ABD,” meaning coursework complete, dissertation not necessarily finished.
Education career
For over two decades a California public-school educator, including as an English teacher in the Lawndale Elementary School District (2004–2022), emphasizing diversity, inclusion and interfaith understanding. She co-founded the Irvine Pakistani Parents Association/Foundation, supporting school arts programming through South Asian heritage events. Read her bio ↗
AMMWEC & CALPAK
As board chair, president and CEO of AMMWEC, she leads a Muslim women-led national organization promoting moderate voices, civic leadership and multifaith partnerships: countering antisemitism and extremism, building Muslim-Jewish coalitions, and running a women’s leadership conference and a career-internship program with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Through CALPAK she supports schooling in Pakistan, especially for at-risk girls, with teacher training, math and reading programs, and help with food and clothing in adopted schools.
Religious freedom & policy
Since 2020 she has co-chaired the International Religious Freedom Roundtable’s Pakistan work, helping organize roundtables in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. She presented at the 2015 White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, served on the advisory board of UC Irvine’s Olive Tree Initiative, and chaired the International Leadership Foundation. A self-described centrist Democrat, she was a delegate to the 2012 and 2016 Democratic National Conventions.
Awards & writing
- Dr. Donald Hecht Philanthropy and Service Award, California Southern University, 2018 (first recipient)
- IRF Builders Award for Peacemaking Leadership, 2025
- Ray of Hope Award
- Co-author of the children’s book Mommy, Am I…?; collaborator on the NYU Law documentary Americans on Hold
About The Author
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