Survivor's Ta e

Lebanese
Zionist
criticizes Islam
for hatred
and terrorism.

Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News

B

rigitte Gabriel says
multiculturalism and
open-mindedness
destroyed her Lebanese home-
land, and she travels the country
urging America — and Israel —
not to make the same mistake.
The author of Because They
Hate: A Survivor of Islamic
Terror Warns America and
founder of the Virginia-based
American Congress for Truth,
Gabriel spoke to 300 people Dec.
5 at the Holocaust Memorial
Center in Farmington Hills about
growing up during the Lebanese
Civil War and her subsequent
embrace of Israel and America.
Sponsored by the pro-Israel
education and advocacy group
StandWithUs-Michigan, Gabriel
introduced herself as a "Lebanese
Zionist who wears her Zionism
on her forehead as a badge of
honor." She shared a gripping
account of her childhood and
the seven. years she lived with
her parents in a bomb shelter in
Marjeyoun, Lebanon, near the
Israeli border.
"Lebanon was a Christian
country," said Gabriel, who con-
siders herself a Phoenician rather
than an Arab. "We built the best
universities and the best econo-
my in the Middle East."
She said the problems started
when the high Muslim birth rate
and the influx of Palestinians
from Jordan made Christians a
minority, leading to the 1975-
1990 civil war.
Severely wounded when
Palestinian rockets destroyed
her home, she spent 2 1/a months
in a hospital before returning to

16

December 14 2006

Brigitte Gabriel speaks to a crowd at the Holocaust Memorial Center.

live in a bomb shelter from ages
10-17.
Gabriel told shocking stories
about how Christian parents
were forced to kill their own
children in horrendous ways and
about the desecration of church-
es. She said Western media based
in Muslim-controlled West Beirut
didn't cover the story.
Brought up to hate and fear
Israel and Jews, things changed
in 1982 when her mother was
wounded and evacuated to Israel.
She said she saw "the difference
in values and character between
the Israeli culture and the Arabic
culture as patients received care
based on their injuries rather
than their faith.
"Twenty-two days in the hos-
pital changed the way I lived my
life Gabriel said. "I [realized I]
was fed a fabricated lie by my
government [about Jews and
Israel], just like throughout the
Arab world."
Two years later, she moved to
Israel and began work as a jour-
nalist.

'A Cancer'
"It's a clash of civilizations,
between civilization and bar-
barism, between evil and good-
ness," Gabriel says of hate and
terrorism inspired by Islam. "It
is a cancer that is plaguing the
world. The enemy that Israel has
been fighting for 50 years is the
problem the whole world is fight-
ing."
During the question-and-
answer period, she criticized
Jewish passivity and had harsh
words about Islam.
"The Jewish people are not
confrontational; they do not have
the gene she explained. "They
were marched to the concentra-
tion camps and they want to sit
behind a wall;' she said, referring
to Israel's security barrier.
"Shed the guilt aside and
defend Israel," she counseled. "Be
proud of what your small coun-
try has given to the world.
"I don't think there is differ-
ence between radical Islam and
moderate Islam," Gabriel said.
"Islam is Islam is Islam."
She warned that Islam allows

Muslims to lie to propagate their
faith.
Gabriel dismissed the 1982
massacre of Palestinians in the
Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps
by Phalangist forces, saying
"unfortunate things happen in
war." She compared the massacre,
in which at least 425 persons
were killed, to the charges against
Israel of a 2002 massacre in Jenin
that the U.N. and human rights
groups found had not occurred.
In contrast, the same groups, as
well as an Israeli commission,
confirmed the 1982 massacre.
She chalked up its notoriety to
poor public relations.
"We are so bad in PR, just like
[the Jewish community], because
of our silence and intellectual-
izing everything:' she said:
Calling herself a "9-11
Republican" because she had
previously voted Democratic,
she said Republican losses in
the November elections were "an
absolute disaster for the United
States ... Because of the leader-
ship of George Bush we have
been protected since 9-11."

Solutions?
Asked about what can be done
about Iran, she answered, "Bomb
ern"
"This was one of the most
powerful talks I've ever
heard;' said Pam Goldberg of
Farmington Hills. "This makes
Nazism look like a picnic. She
makes an awful lot of sense, and
it is very scary"
Dorothy Eicker of Bloomfield
Township, who volunteered she
is a Christian, felt Gabriel was
"fantastic, intelligent and very
knowledgeable.
"I try to follow what the
Muslims are doing but I learned
a lot:' she said, adding she would
pray for Gabriel. "I really feel the
hand of God is on her and I hope
God continues to protect her."
Nizar Malouf of St. Clair
Shores was one of about a dozen
members of the local Christian
Lebanese community who came
to support Gabriel.
"She speaks basically for all of
us," Malouf said. "We've all suf-
fered from Islamic militants."
A supporter of the anti-Syrian
Cedar Revolution and Samir
Geagea, leader of the Christian
Lebanese Forces, Malouf
said Lebanese opposition to
Hezbollah, Syria and Iran is
growing.
"We can't wait for the moment
until we can live in peace with
our neighbor Israel;' he said.
Also hoping that day comes
soon is Rev. David Blewett, direc-
tor of the Southfield-based Dove
Institute. Known for his advo-
cacy for Israel and Middle East
Christians, he, nonetheless, had
problems with Gabriel's talk.
"I asked myself, 'What does
it mean for the search for peace
and understanding the next
day?"' he said, `And it didn't
mean a damn thing.
"I think there is a much big-
ger picture than she presented.
She didn't acknowledge any gray
areas. Her talk only empowered
those who feel a certain way, that
they have the only right way." 7

