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Facts and Logic About
the Middle East
P.O. Box 590359
San Francisco, CA 94159
(415) 356-7801

 

June 30, 2010

Why do Arabs hate Israel?  A brave Lebanese shares her experience . . . and her troubling conclusion.

Dear Friend of FLAME:

We supporters of Israel and advocates of pluralistic democratic ideals often ask ourselves where the moderate Arabs and Muslims are in the face of the terrorism and racism that seems so dominant in their societies.  We wonder: Are there none among them who will stand up to oppose the hate and repression at the heart of radical Islamic values?

This week's FLAME Hotline provides a poignant and powerful answer: Yes, there are a few Arabs and Muslims capable of rising above the racism they are taught from birth and opposing imposition of radical Islamic rule over all other cultures.

One of them is Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese-born journalist, author of "They Must Be Stopped," and founder of ACT! for America, a non-profit issues advocacy organization.  Some years ago, Gabriel delivered an astounding speech at Duke University, which we've reprinted below.  Her brave and heartfelt words almost moved me to tears, and I found myself wishing this piece would "go globally viral"---be read by, well, everyone 'round the world.

If you agree, let's start a small movement: I urge you to use the "forward to a friend" button below.  Send this piece to all your friends and colleagues who need to understand why we support Israel.  (Note that you can enter multiple [but not unlimited] email addresses in the "forward to a friend" address box, so all it takes is one click to send to all.  Won't you read this piece and send it along now?  Urge your friends to pass it along as well.

Best Regards,

Jim Sinkinson
Director, FLAME

P.S.

Last week, we urged you to write to your congressional representatives, asking them to sign a letter being circulated among elected officials, which affirms U.S. support of Israel and urges President Obama to oppose any attempts to persecute Israel in the United Nations.  We're happy to report that the Senate letter has been signed by 87 Senators, and a similar letter has been signed by 313 Representatives---an overwhelming response.  If you wrote to your elected officials, congratulations---it's affirmation that our voices count! You may also have heard that a new, tougher Iran sanctions and divestment bill was also passed last week by both houses of Congress, so we had two rare wins last week.  (Hurray for the good guys---you are one of them!)


P.P.S.

Have you seen FLAME's latest hasbarah---our ad on "Israel: An Apartheid State? Is there any truth at all in this oft-repeated calumny?"---which has appeared in publications nationwide, including college newspapers, with circulation in excess of 5 million?  Please take a look at it, and if you agree that FLAME's brand of public relations effort on Israel's behalf is critical, I urge you to support us. Remember: FLAME's powerful ability to influence public opinion comes from individuals like you, one by one. I hope you'll consider giving a donation now, as you're able---with $500, $250, $100, or even $18. (Remember, your donation to FLAME is tax deductible.) To donate online, just go to http://www.factsandlogic.org/make_a_donation.html. Now more than ever we need your support to ensure that Israel gets the support it needs---from the U.S. Congress, from President Obama, and from the American people.

A Lebanese speaks out about evil in the Arab world and the need to stand up against terror
By Brigitte Gabriel, 2004 Speech at Duke University

I'm proud and honored to stand here today as a Lebanese speaking for Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. As someone who was raised in an Arabic country, I want to give you a glimpse into the heart of the Arabic world.

I was raised in Lebanon where I was taught that the Jews are evil, Israel is the devil, and the only time we will have peace in the Middle East is when we kill all the Jews and drive them into the sea.

When the Muslims and Palestinians declared jihad on the Christians in 1975, they started massacring the Christians city after city. I ended up living in a bomb shelter underground from age 10 to 17, without electricity, eating grass to live, and crawling under sniper bullets to a spring to get water.

It was Israel who came to help the Christians in Lebanon. My mother was wounded by a Muslim shell and was taken into an Israeli hospital for treatment. When we entered the emergency room, I was shocked at what I saw. There were hundreds of people wounded, Muslims, Palestinians, Lebanese Christians, and Israeli soldiers lying on the floor. The doctors treated everyone according to their injury. They treated my mother before they treated the Israeli soldier lying next to her. They didn't see religion, they didn't see political affiliation; they saw people in need and they helped.

For the first time in my life, I experienced a human quality that I know my culture would not have shown to their enemy. I experienced the values of the Israelis, who were able to love their enemy in their most trying moments. I spent 22 days at that hospital; those days changed my life and the way I believe information, the way I listen to the radio or to television. I realized that I was sold a fabricated lie by my government about the Jews and Israel, which was so far from reality. I knew for a fact that if I were a Jew standing in an Arab hospital, I would be lynched and thrown to the ground as shouts of joy of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) echoed through the hospital and the surrounding streets.

I became friends with the families of the wounded Israeli soldiers, one in particular—Rina—whose only child was wounded in his eyes. One day, I was visiting with her and the Israeli army band came to play national songs to lift the spirits of the wounded soldiers. As they surrounded his bed playing a song about Jerusalem, Rina and I started crying. I felt out of place and started walking out of the room, and this mother held my hand and pulled me back in without even looking at me. She held me, crying, and said, "It is not your fault." We just stood there, crying, holding each other's hands.

What a contrast between her—a mother looking at her deformed, 19-year-old only child and still able to love me, the enemy—and a Muslim mother who sends her son to blow himself up to smithereens just to kill a few Jews or Christians.

The difference between the Arabic world and Israel is a difference in values and character. It's barbarism versus civilization. It's democracy versus dictatorship. It's goodness versus evil.

Once upon a time, there was a special place in the lowest depths of hell for anyone who would intentionally murder a child. Now, the intentional murder of Israeli children is legitimized as Palestinian "armed struggle." However, once such behavior is legitimized against Israel, it is legitimized everywhere in the world, constrained by nothing more than the subjective belief of people who would wrap themselves in dynamite and nails for the purpose of killing children in the name of god.

Because the Palestinians have been encouraged to believe that murdering innocent Israeli civilians is a legitimate tactic for advancing their cause, the whole world now suffers from a plague of terrorism, from Nairobi to New York, from Moscow to Madrid, from Bali to Beslan.

They blame suicide bombings on the "desperation of occupation." Let me tell you the truth. The first major terror bombing committed by Arabs against the Jewish state occurred 10 weeks before Israel even became independent. On Sunday morning, February 22, 1948, in anticipation of Israel 's independence, a triple truck bomb was detonated by Arab terrorists on Ben Yehuda Street in what was then the Jewish section of Jerusalem. Fifty-four people were killed and hundreds were wounded.

Thus, it is obvious that Arab terrorism is caused not by "desperation" or "occupation," but by the very thought of a Jewish state.

So many times in history in the last 100 years, citizens have stood by and done nothing, allowing evil to prevail. As America stood up against and defeated communism, now it is time to stand up against the terror of religious bigotry and intolerance. It's time for everyone to stand up and support and defend the State of Israel, which is the front line of the war against terrorism.

Thank you.

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