Faith and community leaders gathered Wednesday evening at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church for an interfaith forum exploring the historical and spiritual connections between the Black experience and the Palestinian struggle.

The event, "The Black Experience: Leadership, Palestine and Truth Telling," drew panelists from across Charlotte's religious community, including Jibril Hough, of the Islamic Center of Charlotte and founder of Ansar Justice Foundation, Wake Forest University Professor of Jewish History and the Holocaust, Dr. Barry Trachtenberg, the Rev. Dr. Paul McAllister, founder Global Leaders in Unity and Evolvement, and Palestinian activist Laila El Ali of Charlotte United for Palestine.

El Ali, who delivered opening remarks, framed the evening around moral accountability across faith traditions.

"Faith, when it is rooted in justice, must always stand with the oppressed, never with oppressors," she said.

Panelists examined how definitions of antisemitism have, at times, been used to silence critique of Israeli policy, the role of media in shaping public perception of Palestinian identity, and what authentic interfaith solidarity looks like in practice. Dr. Trachtenberg argued that postwar Jewish assimilation into American whiteness shaped political alignment with Zionism in ways that complicated Black-Jewish relations.

El Ali grounded the night's urgency in current events, noting that Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher had both been closed in recent days — during Ramadan and Easter season, respectively.

"Solidarity is not just a concept," she said. "It is a responsibility."

The forum is the second in a series and was open and free to the public.