Sergey
Kadinsky
Written Works
This article was written in the
Summer of 2006, as a Media Fellow at the Jerusalem office of The Israel Project
The Culture of Hate:
Nonie Darwish explains an “Obsession”
June 18, 2006
In
Jerusalem, taxi drivers come from many
backgrounds and educational levels, and are usually open to conversations. On my
way to the Conference on Antisemitism, Multiculturalism, and Ethnic Identity at
Hebrew
University The taxi driver who took
me there was an Arab resident of Abu Dis, which is located within the
jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
Though Ayyad appeared to be dismayed by this inconveniences of the Security
Fence and checkpoints built by
Israel to deter terrorists,
throughout our conversation he pointed out how much he loved the culture and
diversity of
Jerusalem. Ayyad chose to enroll his daughter
at a school in the Katamon neighborhood of
Jerusalem, where she can learn Hebrew and
Arabic alongside other Jewish and Arab classmates. In spite of the longer
commute and higher tuition, the taxi driver praised the school for being
tolerant, and teaching his children English
At the conference, there was a presentation of a new documentary film,
“Obsession” which explores the culture of Islamic extremism.
The movie was followed by a talk with Nonie Darwish, an outspoken Arab supporter
of
Israel. As I watched images of
children in the documentary reciting songs praising suicide bombings, I fully
understood why Ayyad chose to enroll his daughter in an Israeli, rather than a
Palestinian school. Making great effort to show that it does
not criticize Islam as a whole, Darwish asserts that is the messengers who are
doing the damage, not the teachings themselves. Directed by South African
filmmaker Wayne Kopping, the documentary features voices such as former PLO
terrorist Walid Shoebat, Director of the Middle East Forum Daniel Pipes, and
Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh.
Darwish grew up in Egyptian-occupied
Gaza, where her father served as a fedayeen
commander, responsible for launching attack raids on
Israel. In spite of being fed
constant anti-Semitic propaganda in school, Darwish experienced the compassion
of
Israel at an early age. “One time,
Israeli agents infiltrated into
Gaza in search of my father, and entered our
home,” Darwish recalls. Finding only her mother and children, the agents looked
at them, and quietly left. “Contrast this with the fedayeen, who
indiscriminately fired at Israeli women and children.”
When she later moved to
Cairo, she befriended a neighbor who was a
Coptic Christian. Walking past a mosque, they both heard hate speech being
directed towards Copts and Jews. Seeing fear in the eyes of her friend, Darwish
began to question the use of Islam as a justification for hate speech. Moving to
Los Angeles, Darwish became friends with many
Jews, and was impressed by their consistent support for a peaceful solution, and
their tolerance towards gentiles. When asked if she had any fear in being the
founder of Arabs for
Israel, she gave an example. “Ten
years ago, my brother in
Gaza suffered a stroke, and everyone around
him agreed that if we wanted him to live, he had to be sent to
Hadassah
Hospital.” However, when Darwish
wanted to express her gratitude to
Israel in a local newspaper, she was
prevented from doing so. In spite of this, Darwish states that “In times of
crisis Arabs trust Jews, because they have compassion and a higher moral
ground.”
Describing the September 11th attacks as the “straw that broke the
camel’s back,” Darwish claims that the attacks made her more pro-American than
ever. As a firsthand witness to the culture of hate that is being bred in
certain schools, she urged western governments to be vigilant against local
extremist groups, and to stop “tolerating intolerance.” This message is evident
in the documentary in the images of hateful rallies and preachers in
Great Britain, and the use of
hateful cartoons in the Arab media.
The documentary also establishes a connection between the culture of hate that
was created by the Nazi German regime and those established by Islamic
extremists. Images of Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini saluting Nazi troops were
compared to contemporary images of Iranian and Hezbollah fighters raising their
hands in the Nazi salute.
Darwish and Ayyad
both show that when Arab people stand up to extremism, not only does it benefit
Jews and Christians, but also the Arabs themselves. As night fell over
Mount
Scopus,
I looked eastward over the villages covering the
Judean
Desert.
Each village had a number of minarets towering over the humble residences,
raising the question, how many of these mosques are moderate, and how many are
truly extremist, and committed to building a culture of hate?
For more info:
www.ArabsForIsrael.com
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