Summer

Many many years ago, I learnt Hebrew out of curiosity, and in a bid to penetrate into a world that I once thought was evil and conspiring against Arabs and Muslims. Once in, I was surprised how wrong I was, how wrong almost every Arab and Muslim around me was. These days, I watch Hebrew networks (and Arabic ones). There is a lot of Israeli pain over those who were killed on 10/7, agony of those who survived, and anxiety over those who are held hostage by Hamas. A lot of tears, now mixing with tears over fallen soldiers fighting in Gaza. The thing about all this Israeli pain is that it is almost exclusively in Hebrew. The world does not see Israelis hurt, does not hear them cry. The world sees Israel as fighter jets raining death to punish those who killed them from 15000 feet above ground. The world only sees and hears pain coming from Gaza, and the world always takes the side of the underdog, even when the underdog is guilty. One billion Muslims certainly have a much louder voice than 20 million Jews, and the world will always blame Israel, even when Palestinians started the carnage. And that's exactly why Israelis are fighting the fight of their lives. They understand that the world is an unfair place, and that they cannot rely on non-existent international justice or biased global opinion. I wish I had a magic wand to make fellow Arabs, and the rest of the world, see what I see. There will never be peace without justice, and using our numbers (Muslims) to impose our narrative is one way to try to beat Israel, but not the way to peace. My voice will dissent. I want peace, and peace is incumbent on winning the trust of those we want to live in peace with, not keeping on instigating the world against them.