Someone sent me the transcript of a speech given by Brigitte Gabriel at an anti-terrorism speak-out at Duke in 2004. This is particularly relevant given what's happening in Israel today. It's also significant to me because as an advisory board member to Duke's Freeman Center for Jewish Life, the anti-terrorism speak-out stands in direct contrast to the Palestinian Solidarity Conference that chose Duke's campus for their rally last year. The world is divided over the Arab-Israeli conflict and I believe unjustifiably so. The beginning of the speech is below and I link to the full transcript. Its powerful and worth a read.
"I'm proud and honored 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 Arabic world. I was raised in Lebanon where I was taught that the Jews were evil, Israel was 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 Moslems and Palestinians declared Jihad on the Christians in1975, they started massacring the Christians city after city. I ended up living in a bomb shelter underground from age 10 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 Moslem shell and was taken into an Israeli hospital for treatment. When we entered the emergency room, I was shocked at what I saw...." Click here for the full speech transcript.