Arabs speak well of Israel

Opinion: February 10, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

JERUSALEM

With violent political winds battering their Arab neighbors, Israelis have watched with a mixture of nervousness and hope, wondering what the changes will mean for them. Will the end of dictatorships mean a better chance for peace and good relations, or will they usher in even more instability and insecurity?

Until now, much of the evidence points to a rise of Islamist parties, whose view of Israel — and of the Jews in general — gives little reason for optimism. And yet, there are small sparks deep in the horizon that indicate a different outcome could still come to pass.

Groups like the Muslim Brotherhood generally subscribe to Islamic writings — recently repeated in a public forum by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the top Muslim authority in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem — that killing Jews is a way to bring forth the hour of redemption.

Even more disheartening is the fact that there is really no side that favors better relations with Israel in the ongoing street battles bloodying the Middle East, in places like Syria. When I asked a Syrian activist how people feel about Israel among the opposition to the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, he told me that Assad’s foreign policy is the one area where he has enjoyed popular support.

Anti-Israel

To be sure, the consensus in the Arab and Muslim worlds is firmly anti-Israel. That is at least partly the result of decades of state-controlled media fueling grotesque anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda that sought to promote the image of an external enemy to unite the people behind their leader. Until now, there has been no real freedom to express a different point of view.

The taboo against expressing a different view towards Israel is being broken by the bravest of the brave. The courage of protesters who defy bullets to demand freedom is breathtaking. But it takes a special kind of valor to tell even your friends that they are wrong.

Consider the case of Maikel Nabil. Nabil is an Egyptian blogger who just emerged from 10 months in an Egyptian prison for criticizing the army.

He describes himself as a pacifist, a liberal, a feminist, pro-Western and pro-Israel.

His blog (www.MaikelNabil.com) has three sections, Arabic, English and Hebrew. He speaks out openly against Arab positions regarding Israel. “I don’t want to take part in anti-Semitic operations or those that negate Israel’s right to exist,” he says. “I see Israel as a liberal, modern state with a religious character. ... I think Israelis have a right to defend themselves.”

When Nabil went to prison, some of his friends were outraged that other liberals didn’t do more to help him. They blamed their neglect of a comrade on Nabil’s unpopular stance on Israel.

Mahmoud Salem, a leading revolutionary who blogs as “Sandmonkey,” berated fellow liberals for turning their backs on Nabil. He lectured them on the meaning of the right to free speech, which liberals claimed to support. “It’s (Nabil’s) right to support Israel if he wishes,” he wrote, “and your personal opinion of how distasteful that may be .?.?. is completely and utterly irrelevant.”

When Nabil was freed, the daily al-Ahram told his story, describing Nabil, an atheist of Christian background, as an unusual character. He is different, the article explained incredulously, “to the point that he supports Israel’s right to exist.”

Favoring Israel

Nabil is hardly the first Arab to speak out in Israel’s favor. Many do it every day anonymously on websites. Recent coverage of the corruption case against Ehud Olmert, a former Israeli prime minister, is a case in point. Arab websites are filled with reader comments, such as this from “Khaled” in Saudi Arabia: “Before we curse Israel, we must learn from the democratic and judicial system in Israel, where no one is above the law.”

But few have used their full or real names when speaking that way. Pro-Israel Arabs, Muslims, and former Muslims who use their real names are usually people living safely in the West, such as Lebanon’s Brigitte Gabriel, Somalia’s Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Egypt’s Tawfik Hamid, or Canada’s Irshad Manji.

The Arab revolutions, if they succeed in prying open the political debate, will make it possible for new points of view to enter the discussion.

Frida Ghitis writes about global affairs for The Miami Herald. Distributed by MCT Information Services.