The Muslim Leadership Initiative is a program created by the Shalom Hartman Institute, an Israeli think tank, in summer 2013. The program invites North American Muslims to explore how Jews understand Judaism, Israel, and Jewish peoplehood. The program also encourages participants to experience how Palestinians, both inside and outside Israel, identify themselves, while exploring the issues of ethics, faith, and practice. MLI seeks to expand participants' critical understanding of the complex religious, political, and socioeconomic issues facing people in Israel and Palestine.
The program has been criticized by some because Shalom Hartman Institute receives funding from groups in the United States such as the Russell Berrie Foundation, which fund what some view as anti-Muslim activities. Critics of the program, such as Ali Abunimah, have described it as running counter to the objectives of the Boycott, Divest Sanctions (BDS) movement. David Horovitz of The Times of Israel called it a "high-risk, taboo-shattering initiative — a vital step, they hope, toward Muslim-Jewish healing in America and beyond." Gary Rosenblatt of The Jewish Week described MLI as "a model exercise in expressing honest, often painful, views with more than just civility. The MLI members and the handful of Hartman faculty were able to convey empathy and personal affection for each other without standing down an inch from their fervent beliefs."