Posted on 05/24/2004 2:53:33 PM PDT by Nachum
On November 20th 2003 I spoke at Carnegie Mellon University at a lecture series entitled "Arabs for Israel," sponsored by the Young Zionist Organization of America. The idea of this series is to show that there are Arabs and/or Muslims who feel positively about, and support Israel.
The series started with a talk by Ishmael Khaldi, “My experience as a Bedouin Growing up in Israel.” Ishmael Khaldi is a proud Bedouin Israeli. Khaldi is also Muslim, and was born the third of eleven children in a Bedouin family in the village of Khawalid, northeast of Haifa. He grew up in a tent, and was a shepherd until after high school. He later served with the Israeli border police and worked for the Ministry of Defense. He is now training with the Israeli foreign service to serve as Israel's first Bedouin diplomat.
The title of my lecture was: “An Egyptian's Journey from Anti-Semitism and Ethnocentrism to Understanding and Support for Israel.” I spoke about part of my childhood in the fifties in Gaza, where I witnessed first-hand the rise of the "fedaee" movement and terror against Israel. I talked about overcoming years of childhood indoctrination into hate and anti-Semitism.
The lecture was well attended by both Arab and Jewish students who later asked many intelligent questions. An Egyptian student objected to my calling the suicide mass murder of Israelis inside Israel by Palestinians as “terrorism”. I told her there is no other name for it and that there is nothing honorable about it. Terror is the behavior of desperate people and Arabs are not and should not act desperate, I told her. Another Moslem student dressed in Islamic attire asked me what to do and I advised her to put aside the baggage we all came to the US with and get to know a Jewish student as a human being and fellow student. I commented that this is an educational institution in the free world and this is their chance to learn about issues that are taboo in Arab culture. Other students from Moslem countries wondered how they could overcome the extremist Islamic Wahabi movement penetrating all Moslem countries. My answer was to always be aware of it and never get trapped into a culture of hate. It is very hard for poor Arab nations to reject Saudi money wrapped around Islamic extremism.
The event was very orderly and peaceful. Reaction to my speech was mixed but most said it was a great inspiration. The purpose of my speech was to show my support for Israel but what I found out was that many Arab students needed to hear a different message from a person of Arab origin who supports Israel. I believe that many went home with something new to think about. Yes it is OK to be Moslem and Arab and support Israel.
I later attended a Chabat dinner. That was an inspiration and a learning experience for me. I had never seen anything like that. I looked at this wonderful gathering of all ages of Jewish people of faith who have nothing to offer to the world but love and compassion. I was supposed to speak a little. I was in awe and almost speechless. I told the gathering that if the world could see this holy gathering, humanity would be inspired, love of fellow man would be renewed and there would be no more anti-Semitism. I thank the Rabbi and his wife for replenishing my faith in humanity.
Ishmael Khaldi better watch his back.
Am glad to read this story.
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