The media in the Arab Muslim world is, for the most part, a swamp of victimhood, conspiracy theories, Jew-hatred, blood libels, delusional intellectuals, and fanatic Islamist genocidiers.
But every once in a while a whiff of truth slips past the gate keepers. The following article by Abdulateef Al-Mulhim, a retired commodore in the Saudi Royal Navy, and published in the Arab News, Saudi Arabia, is a remarkable piece of truth-telling. Mr. Al-Mulhim shatters the basic myth of the Arab Muslim world: that Israel is the source of all Muslim troubles, the primal enemy who must be destroyed.
In fact, so articulate is the core message of this article that it would never even be published in today’s NY Times, for it is a direct repudiation of every word ever written by Thomas Friedman.
Alas, Seraphic Secret confesses that as soon as we read Mr. Al-Mulhim’s article, we understood that this honest and courageous man has painted a huge “Kill Me” sign on his back.
A few excerpts:
Many people in the Arab world are beginning to ask many questions about the past, present, and future with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The hard question that no Arab national wants to ask is: What was the real cost of not recognizing Israel in 1948 and why didn’t the Arab states spend their assets on education, health care and infrastructure instead of wars? But the hardest question that no Arab national wants to hear is whether Israel is the real enemy of the Arab world and the Arab people.
I decided to write this article after I saw photos and reports about a starving child in Yemen, a burned ancient Aleppo souk in Syria, the underdeveloped Sinai in Egypt, car bombs in Iraq and destroyed buildings in Libya. The photos and reports were shown on the Al-Arabiya network, which is the most watched and respected news outlet in the Middle East. The common thing among all that I saw is that the destruction and atrocities were not done by an outside enemy. So, the question now is: who is the real enemy of the Arab world?
The Arab world wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and lost tens of thousands of innocent lives fighting Israel. The Arab world has many enemies and Israel should have been at the bottom of the list. The Arab world had many dictators who used the Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their own people. These dictators’ atrocities against their own people are far worse than all the full-scale Arab-Israeli wars.
Now, with the never-ending Arab Spring, the Arab world has no time for Palestinians refugees or the Palestinian cause, because many Arabs are refugees themselves and under constant attacks from their own forces.
What happened to the Arabs’ sworn enemy (Israel)? Israel now has the most advanced research facilities, top universities and advanced infrastructure. The life expectancy of the Palestinians living in Israel is far longer than many Arab states and they enjoy far better political and social freedom than many of their Arab brothers. Even the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza enjoy more political and social rights than some places in the Arab world. Now, it is time to stop the hatred and wars and start to create better living conditions for future Arab generations.
To read the entire article, please click here.
H/T Elder of Ziyon
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
9 Comments
Great article. it is a shame sharia law/Islam does not allow free speech or free thinking. On to benghazigate) aka the new watergate). let’s see if the liberal press reports what fox news has been asking questions from day one.
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As you say Robert – a man of rare courage. In reading this I am even suggesting a man touched by G*d.
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Bill,
You have a good point. G-d shows his face is so many ways, sometimes ways that are as quiet or subtle as “the still quiet voice” that Elijah heard on Mt. Carmel.
When I was in Israel earlier this year, an Israeli Arab doctor who I was working with, on Friday evening, wished me, and the Israeli Jewish doctor I was assigned to, a very sincere and kind “Shabbat Shalom”.
It knocked me for an emotional loop that I still haven’t recovered from, and I have been processing that moment, and its implications ever since. Only if!
Shalom.
Peter
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On a flight this year, my seatmate was a friendly and voluble woman from a prominent Saudi family. She was very interested in Judaism and its similarities to Islamic tradition, and took pains to assure me that most Saudis are neither anti-Semitic nor anti Israel. The Iranians, however, are another story. The Persians are hated with a passion, as are the Palestinians, to a lesser degree.
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Peter – I wrestle with God and righteousness just as much as the next guy but in my experience when He does speak many times it comes from a person least suspected in this worldly realm (e.g. David – a humble Shepard boy for example – and many times the people aren’t yet ready to hear the message. But many are ready to take the seeds of the message.
For this man – in a country dominated by Wahabists – to say this took great courage and it would not surprise me in the slightest to learn this came from the “highest source”. I guess I should say Highest Source
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That was exactly my thoughts as I read the article.
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The Saudis are in a unique position in the “Arab-Israeli Conflict”. They are one of the few Arab states who are living in the 21st Century. So much of their wealth/economy is built upon oil production, exports and the global economy, that they are — in some ways — more aligned (economically) to Israel than to Iran, Egypt, Syria, etc.
Finally, for his sake, I hope “Abdulateef Al-Mulhim” is as phony a name as ProphetJoe!
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Robert,
When I think of Obama’s foreign policy these days, one question always arises in my mind:
Does the reset button have a reset button?
I know he’s too classy, but just once I’d like to hear President Romney say, “I inherited a foreign policy mess from my predecessor.”
Tom
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The Saudis need a strong Israel as a buffer to prevent their regime form takeover by corrupt Palestinian sympathizers who would bankrupt them fairly quickly, or by Iranians and their Shi-ite proxies.
Eventually, they would like to see Israel render Iran as a military non-threat, and need to set the stage, while there is still time, so that there is only token outcry when Israel attacks Iran.
Expect more and similar softened position statements by the Saudis and the other Sunni oil rich states.
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