A revealing personal testimony from a formerly hostile Arab supporter of Israel.
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Lebanese-born author and journalist Brigitte Gabriel, addressing an audience at Duke University (US) in 2004: ‘I’m proud and honoured 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 Arab 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 in city after city. I ended up living in a bomb shelter underground from age ten 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 by 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 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 spent 22 days at that hospital; those days changed my life. I realised 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.’
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Source: Brigitte Gabriel
Lebanese-born author and journalist Brigitte Gabriel, addressing an audience at Duke University (US) in 2004: ‘I’m proud and honoured 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 Arab 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 in city after city. I ended up living in a bomb shelter underground from age ten 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 by 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 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 spent 22 days at that hospital; those days changed my life. I realised 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.’
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Source: Brigitte Gabriel
