Nonie Darwish
Last night, I saw Nonie Darwish for the second time.
Her story is a very interesting one worth sharing. She was born in Cairo, but grew up in Gaza, growing up in a culture of hate. "In Gaza elementary schools, we learned hatred, vengeance and retaliation. Hatred seemed normal," she said. The object of the hatred was often the Jews. Her father was in charge of the Egyptian Fedayeen, leading the terrorist operations against the state of Israel, murdering innocent Israelis. According to Darwish, the Fedayeen was responsible for killing 400 Israelis and wounding 900. In 1956, when Darwish was just eight years old, her father became the first victim of an Israeli targeted assasination. When Nasser gave his speech about nationalizing the Suez Canal, he mentioned Darwish's father by name, said he was a hero and called for revenge for his death.
Losing her father could have easily made Nonie more hardened against Jews. After her father's death, she recalls people asking her and her syblings, "Which one of you will grow up to kill Jews?" Darwish wanted no part of it. She wanted her father back.
Eventually, Darwish moved to the United States in 1978 where she began to see that a lot of the hatred she was taught was wrong. She began to become quietly supportive of the US, Israel and the west and critical of the culture of hate encircling her people. On September 11, 2001, she ended the quiet and began to speak out.
Darwish created a site called www.arabsforisrael.com, a pretty self-explanatory forum. She began writing articles and speaking around the country. She was featured in the film Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West and her book Now They Call Me Infidel is due to come out in November.
I can't say I agree completely with everything Darwish says, but her story truly is unbelievable. For someone to emerge from that background and support the West and support Israel speaks well for the goodness of humanity to rise above dreadful circumstance.
The most compelling thing about her message, however, is its insistence on accountability. Darwish did not offer many prescriptions about what the US should do about radical Islam, instead focusing on what the Arab and Muslim communities must do. I agree that there's very little America can do about radical Islam, aside from helping good Muslims help themselves.
Her story is a very interesting one worth sharing. She was born in Cairo, but grew up in Gaza, growing up in a culture of hate. "In Gaza elementary schools, we learned hatred, vengeance and retaliation. Hatred seemed normal," she said. The object of the hatred was often the Jews. Her father was in charge of the Egyptian Fedayeen, leading the terrorist operations against the state of Israel, murdering innocent Israelis. According to Darwish, the Fedayeen was responsible for killing 400 Israelis and wounding 900. In 1956, when Darwish was just eight years old, her father became the first victim of an Israeli targeted assasination. When Nasser gave his speech about nationalizing the Suez Canal, he mentioned Darwish's father by name, said he was a hero and called for revenge for his death.
Losing her father could have easily made Nonie more hardened against Jews. After her father's death, she recalls people asking her and her syblings, "Which one of you will grow up to kill Jews?" Darwish wanted no part of it. She wanted her father back.
Eventually, Darwish moved to the United States in 1978 where she began to see that a lot of the hatred she was taught was wrong. She began to become quietly supportive of the US, Israel and the west and critical of the culture of hate encircling her people. On September 11, 2001, she ended the quiet and began to speak out.
Darwish created a site called www.arabsforisrael.com, a pretty self-explanatory forum. She began writing articles and speaking around the country. She was featured in the film Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West and her book Now They Call Me Infidel is due to come out in November.
I can't say I agree completely with everything Darwish says, but her story truly is unbelievable. For someone to emerge from that background and support the West and support Israel speaks well for the goodness of humanity to rise above dreadful circumstance.
The most compelling thing about her message, however, is its insistence on accountability. Darwish did not offer many prescriptions about what the US should do about radical Islam, instead focusing on what the Arab and Muslim communities must do. I agree that there's very little America can do about radical Islam, aside from helping good Muslims help themselves.
posted by Nate | 12:00 AM
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