Israel > Arabia II

"Growing up in the Middle East, I came to find out that Arab children are taught hatred of Jews from their mother's milk. From a young age, Arab children are constantly bombarded with stories and information presenting Jews as barbaric, conniving, manipulative, warmongering people. Meanwhile, Jews teach their children patience, humility, service, tolerance, understanding of others, and charity to all. They call it tikkun olam, "to repair the world."
...
Israel has become one of the most innovative and technologically advanced countries, contributing to the world's improvement in fields from medicine to communications. It is a successful, modern, educated, Western-thinking society in the midst of a sea of Arabic failure, corruption, backwardness, and ignorance. Israel's success in turning a desolate desert land into an oasis blossoming with Western culture and wealth irks its failing neighbors. It is in contrast to everything they are not and cannot be because of their culture, values, and religion, which suffocate the individual and drown out human rights."

- from 'Because They Hate' by Brigitte Gabriel

Israel > Arabia

"...Mama was in the hospital for almost three weeks. During that time I learned a great deal about the ethics and values of the Israelis. There were also constant reminders of the differences between the Israelis and the Arab world. After the mercy the Israelis showed their enemies, the thing that impressed me the most was the respect with which women were treated. I loved to watch the Israeli women, particularly the young women in the army. Some of them were only a year or two older than I. I was amazed by how assertive and self-confident they were. I did not yet understand the language that they spoke, but I could tell from their tone of voice and the way that they carried themselves that they felt accepted and respected by the men. Some of them were even officers! This was such a stark contrast to the Arab world in which I had grown up. No Arab soldier would take an order from a woman. In the Arab world, women were property. We were owned by our parents, and then we were reowned by our husbands. Israel was truly a different world."

- Brigitte Gabriel, ibid. [see previous post]