Myers and Al-Marayati: the summit "turned into a platform for anti-Muslim hate"
David N. MyersProfessor of Jewish history at UCLA, writing a signed guest opinion column co-authored with Salam Al-Marayati, president and co-founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council
In a co-bylined Los Angeles Times opinion piece with Salam Al-Marayati, UCLA Jewish history professor David N. Myers wrote that the summit became a platform for anti-Muslim hate and placed significant responsibility on the organisers who gave Yousef the stage.
“Rather than a celebration of Jewish life, the summit turned into a platform for anti-Muslim hate.”
Analysis
Where this statement fits
Mosab Hassan Yousef’s call for Muslims to leave the United States at the Jewish American Summit
At the August 30, 2026 Jewish American Summit in Los Angeles, Mosab Hassan Yousef said he did not want Muslims in America, used profanity to tell Muslims to leave the United States, and told them to return to and reform the countries they came from. Audience members applauded. Critics characterized the remarks and the response as anti-Muslim bigotry; the dispute also concerns responsibility among the event's organizers, sponsors, speakers, and public commentators.
Source and context
Analysis
About this source
Co-bylined guest opinion. Myers is a professor of Jewish history at UCLA; Al-Marayati is president and co-founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. The piece quotes three of Yousef's lines directly, says significant responsibility rests with the organizers who gave him a platform, and describes the crowd as applauding his remarks.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Published six days after the August 30 summit. The column quotes three of Yousef's lines directly -- "I don't want Muslims in America," "this country is better without your belief system" and "you disgust me" -- and characterises them as an attempt to keep up with white nationalist extremists.
After the quotation
The authors write that "significant responsibility rests with the organizers who gave this individual a platform," and compare the use of a former Muslim to validate hostility toward Muslims to the historical use of Jewish apostates as Inquisitorial witnesses.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Myers and Al-Marayati condemn both Yousef's remarks and the summit's response to them. They describe the remarks as a "vulgar tirade" giving voice to "deep contempt" for Islam and Muslims, and they extend the criticism to the organizers and to the applauding audience.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Mosab Hassan Yousef, Jewish American Summit
More from this case
Read the full casePlatt disavows Yousef's views while defending interview
“Needless to say, Mosab's views in this case are not my own”Read statement
Soraya Deen: Yousef's call was wrong
“Mosab Hassan Yousef's call for Muslims to leave America was wrong.”Read statement
Tim Gaspar condemns Yousef's remarks
“I've recently been made aware of the abhorrent remarks from Mosab Hassan Yousef... islamophobia has no place in our community and I vehemently disagree with this rhetoric.”Read statement
Share or embed this statement
The embed keeps its attribution link to The Dispute Index. Credit the image to The Dispute Index and link to the statement page.
Cite this record
- Publisher
- The Dispute Index
- Title
- Myers and Al-Marayati: the summit "turned into a platform for anti-Muslim hate"
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/1056-in-a-co-bylined-los-angeles-times-opinion
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Myers and Al-Marayati: the summit "turned into a platform for anti-Muslim hate"". First published: 2026-09-18. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/1056-in-a-co-bylined-los-angeles-times-opinion