Letter in Response to Princeton Incident

Dear Ms. Darwish,
After the incident at Princeton University, I decided to buy and read your book “Now, They Call Me Infidel” to find out just what was so “offensive” that the Muslim student body didn’t want to hear. Apparently, Princeton University doesn’t want to risk offending its Muslim students but doesn’t mind offending visiting Christian speakers; something they should be deeply ashamed of!In any case, I found your book extremely informative along with giving insight into what living in an Islamic society is really like, not what we are told. The book also carries with it a very powerful message; namely your journey from hate and jihad into love and compassion. Most of the facts that you stated in your book, I have verified by many other sources so I know that they are absolutely correct.I quite agree with your conclusion that Islam must be reformed by moderate Muslims if Islam is to become a respectable and acceptable religion here in America and elsewhere. As you stated, it must: (1) renounce and condemn terrorism in any form officially and publicaly either through a “fatwa” or some other means, (2) the penalty of death for apostasy as stated in both the Koran (I have read this also) and Sharia law must be removed. I know of no other religion that officially prescribes such a harsh judgment merely for leaving it.However, my biggest concern is the proliferation of mosques in our country apparently bankrolled by Saudi Arabia. Since westerners are not allowed into any of these mosques (assuming that we understood Arabic which most of us don’t), we have no way of knowing what messages are being given to each local Muslim population; are they of peace and reconciliation or are they merely a repeat of messages of hate and jihad that you experienced in Egypt? Your experience in California strongly suggests the latter and, if so, this is a very scary prospect and will have serious repercussions for us as a country somewhere down the road unless something is done about it.In any event, both my wife and I wish you well in your efforts to educate the rest of us as to the nature of both “Islam” and “Radical Islam” and the important difference between the two. May God Bless you, your family and your work.
Dick Wetherald
Hopewell, New Jersey USA

More Recent Letters

Posted by Travis Nasser to Arabs For Israel at August 12, 2009 7:48 PM:

After browsing this website and reading all the articals and overall content of this website, I am just flattered to see that there's more people in the Arabic community besides me that embraces the state of Israel and treasures the culture of Jews and their beliefs,heritage and society. I was born and raised in the US in a Lebanese American household, I always had Jewish friends and family always had Jewish friends, it's just too damn bad, 10,000 miles away, our brothers,
our youth and even our children in the Arabic/Islamic world are brainwashed and bullied into harboring mindless,and blind hatred going so far as to resort to suicidal terrorism to please totaliariam and over-zeolous fascists.

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On Sunday, July 19, 2009 03:48 AM, Anonymous wrote:

Dear None,
Thank you alot, I am from Gaza Strip but i am not Muslim i am Christian live in gaza, i hope to be friend to israel

Recent Letters

March 13, 2009 6:05 PM
Anonymous said...

Hello Nonie,I am proud of you,I am not moslim or jew ,I am catholic but I feel totally in love with jewish people and their homeland Israel,they defend our west values and without them everything will be a little darker in middle east.
I have to admit too that I am surprised to read all these polite and nice comments from Arabs and muslims,it´s a pity there is no more moslim people like you all over the world.
A big hug for you Noni,and all my respect and my neverending love to jews and good people all over the world.
Melanie.

April 8, 2009 4:13 AM
moussaelmoussaoui said...

hello nonie,many Arabs in africa support the project " Arabs for israel " of peace and coexistence with israel, and recognize the legitimate state of israel.
el moussaoui moussa(morocco)

April 9, 2009 7:19 AM
Anonymous said...

Dear Nonie, and all the wonderful Arabs (and others!) for Israel,

May God Bless you all and may the day come soon, when we can all, Moslems, Christians, Jews, Bahais, Druse, Hindus, etc., live in peace and harmony in the Middle East and all over the world.

An Israeli-Jewish mother and grandmother

April 19, 2009 9:31 AM
Anonymous said...

Dear Nonie, as a person who was born and raised in a hospitible,caring,compassionate, Lebanese American household, I am greatly
pleased that there are voices from Arabic and Islamic networks, that are combating hatred and bigotry against our semitic brothers the Jewish people and support for their state of Israel.
Also as a son of a devout Roman Catholic father, and mother, I was always raised to respect other religious and spiritual beliefs, so intolerance for Jews is just irrellevent, because first of all our Prophet Jesus was a devout Jew his whole life and so were every prophet mentioned in the Bible,not just from a religious perspective am I against blind hatred , but also as a family-oriented human-being.

May 7, 2009 10:46 PM
Anonymous said...

Dear Nonie,
Thank you for providing this web site. As a Lebanese-Canadian who supports Israel’s right to exist, I am glad to see that many other Arabs also feel this way. The Middle East needs peace. The Arabs need a neighbour like Israel that is role model of liberalism and democracy.
May 19, 2009 1:40 PM
Fred Maroun said...

I recommend a recently published book by a Palestinian-Canadian and an Israeli-Canadian who both live in Ottawa. The book is "Light Behind the Darkness" by Raouf Omar and Claude Weil. In this book, the authors talk about personal stories where individual Arabs experienced the kindness of individual Jews, and vice versa. It is a very moving book. It can be purchased through chapters.com.

June 12, 2009 9:22 AM
david said...

from sudan

hi there .. I respect your efforts ..
but last time I supported israel in the internet , telling my personal information , I was arrested from my house in khartoum (the capital )and I was beaten for 7 days , my body was crushed like hell , I was studying pharmacy in a university , a lot of academic problems were infticted to me there ..I changed my religion long time ago but I can never tell anyone for fear for my life , my dad is very rich CEO of a super mega company in a gulf arab country , he didn't support me when I told him and inflicted problems for me ( including financial sanctions) , and by the way he is not different from the majority of millions of people here , most of muslim people in sudan think israel should be deleted and happy about what happened in 9 11 ,when a woman here were stoned to death (by "low") for infidality all of them said it was right -they should say so because this is the punishment for infidality for married person according to the share'a low-

I am afraid we people here in arabs for israel need alot of work ...

June 23, 2009 10:44 AM
david said...

hi there ..

thak you for pulishing my previous post ,I would like to continue about the stoned woman
and in fact I didn't get it because every women I saw while in prison was raped daily several time by happy policemen - and by the way many of them were very very beautiful ! -
but you know what , I do get it about the rapes in darfur you know why ? because also according to share'a low when the army of jihad invade a nation , women can be taken as ( sabaya , the singular : sabyia) = slaves -by the way share'a had never banned slavery but says it's good to free (your) slaves !!! , if you commit a sin according to share'a you should fast or feed a hungry person or pay someone to free one or more of his slaves ( fakko raqaba = releasing a neck) !!!
from anthropological perspective andalosia in spain was a wonderful civilization , but the big question is : what gave muslims the right to invade and occupy spain in the first place ?!!

lord knows how european sabaya will look like ,
very very beautiful definitely

June 24, 2009 7:25 AM
Anonymous said...

I am an American born Muslim of Lebanese and Iranian descent, and I want you to know that I support the state of Israel. I do not support any killings from anyone on either side; but I do believe that the intelligent, humanitarian Jews have Israel's best interest at heart and that they want to live in peace with others who live in their country. I think Islam needs a major overhaul so that the people are not so ignorant. Wake up Muslims!! I am tired of being attached to a bunch of primitive loonies. I heard something years ago and it never resounded so true as now: Islam is perfect, Muslims are not. Please wake up and think! Stop being blind sheep and following things in the religion that have been warped. God created us to use our intelligence, so just do it!

July 15, 2009 5:07 AM
Anonymous said...

I am fifteen years old and I live in the U.S. I watched "Obsession,' and was angry when I saw how schools are taught. I admit, I cried when I saw the children reciting the poetry, and later, holding guns (even if some were just toys). How someone could teach a child to hate that much is beyond me and truly appalling. When I saw the people dancing and celebrating the attack on the twin towers, I became distraught. So many people lost their lives, and so many families were left mourning the death of their loved ones. I can't begin to understand how someone could be so happy about the death of another human being.
I fully support your wish for peace, and I hope to become a respected writer like you. You have inspired me to stand up and show the world what I believe, and how I believe. I am a Christian, and I am proud of my religion. Thank you for standing up and showing the world that there is an alternative to war. God bless you, and I hope you live a long, fruitful life. I pray for safety on your family and success in your movement.

Support from Jordan

Dear Ms. Nonie, 

I heared you through BBC TV and I respect your ideas and I believe in them. I want to help but I do not know how. It is my pleasure to be a member in your team and to give you all my support.   

Our world will be a better place because of people like you. We need people who think differently to make the necessary changes. Most people in our Arab countries do not agree with your ideas and they are ready to fight your ideas, but most people who change our world faced the same situation, do you know Galileo, that great man who tell the world that the earth revolves around the sun, when I heard you on BBC I said this is our Arab Galileo, and believe me we need many and many Galileos to change many things in our life as Arabians. 

I am a good reader for our history and for the other history, I know our true history but the problem is that most of our people did not know the true history; also I know the Jews history butunfortunately most of our people did not know anything about them, I shocked when I knew about the Jews suffering during the second world war and I cried when I saw the pictures showing how much the suffer they faced.

I visited many countries during my life and I cried when I saw how big the distance between East and West, we have much wealth we have much petrol we have much money but unfortunately we have also much failure and much retardation. 

Our problems are not only with Jews but more importantly with ourselves, our mind, and long held destructive beliefs. We need a revolution in how we think. We need peace within ourselves first and then peace with Jews and the rest of the world will follow. 

Peace is very important for the development. Best regards.

Mohammad Atwa

 

 

A German In Shock

Dear Ms.Nonie:
Researching the Hassan case of Buffalo I incidentally stumbled over a link to you. I freely admitthat I was really shocked, almost paralyzed, while roaming your website. I hadto stop working as it was just too thrilling to read and read and read..... At one point I suffered a laugh attack, namely when you are saying in an oldinterview that you had received a letter calling you a pig and a monkey :) well, this would be truly a zoological anomaly he he he ... There are so manyimbecile people out there, it´s scary. But:
What a wonderful feeling toknow that there are people like you! I am praying for your well-being andyour safety, now and always.
Warm regards
Dominik
Cologne, Germany

FoxNews.com Video: Tarek Fatah, Frank Gaffney, Robert Spencer and Nonie Darwish

FoxNews Strategy Room: Heather Nauert explores Islamic Fundamentalism within the United States
with Robert Spencer, Frank Gaffney, Tarek Fatah and Nonie Darwish

• Click here to view: The Strategy Room: Tue, 10 Feb 2009

Hope, Change and Peace

Yes, There ARE Arabs for Israel
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dear Nonie,
Thank you for your courage and work. I am an Arab and Muslim and would like to express a view please.
The decadence and decline of the Arab world has started 900 years ago, there are no signs of improvement, however, there is hope. The salvation from this stagnation is the revival or the renaissance of Eretz Israel. It is Israel who will save the Arabs from obscurantism and the Arabs must act now before it is too late and give up hating, mistrusting and seeing the Jews as aliens. Israel!! A land of people who rose from their ashes. A phoenix of people who will bring enlightment and prosperity to the Arabs. The process may be difficult and painful but it is just as painful for the Jews to see so much suffering.
"One has to be cruel to be kind". How can we help the Arabs surmount the obstacles of their beliefs and prejudices and help them see the Jewish nation as the closest nation to us spiritually, linguistically, culturally and ethnically. Don't the Arabs know that the Jews are closer to us than Persians or Kurds or Turks? Jews have always been part of the Near East in particular and the Middle East in general. Don't they have the right to aspire for a homeland or should they just accept to live as second class citizens in foreign countries. Why is it acceptable for Arabs to persecute and kill other Arabs but when Israel act in self defence they shout "indignation"?

Yours sincerely.
Aisha Obeid

Video: What Life was like under Muslim Rule

Excellent history AND a frightening insight as to what life was and would be like under Muslim rule.

• Click here to view: The Forgotten Refugees

Dispelling The Myths

Dear Nonnie,

Thank you for your reply. How can one help one billion of Muslims understand that Koran is not a sacrosanct, infallible book? How can one explain to them how much Mohammad was inspired by Judaism during the time he spent in Judea before the birth of Islam. The new ideas took to his land of birth were great and transformed radically the pagans and the region. We tend to glorify the Muslim ideologies (not original at all) instead we should take an objective and critical look at Islam, Mohammad and Koran.
What impact did the new religion have (and continue to have) on the monotheists of the region? Was Islam as tolerant and just as the Muslim like to believe? I hate to think of the indignations and the fear the people of the near east endured after the spread Islam.
Yours sincerely
Aisha

Who Are We?

We are Arabs and Moslems who believe:

• We can support Israel and still support the Palestinian people. Supporting one does not cancel support for the other.
  
• We can support the State of Israel and the Jewish religion and still treasure our Arab and Islamic culture.
  
• There are many Jews and Israelis who freely express compassion and support for the Palestinians. We Arabs also express reciprocal compassion and support.
  
• The existence of the State of Israel is a fact that we accept.
  
• Israel is a legitimate state that is not a threat but an asset in the Middle East.
  
• Every major World religion has a center of gravity. Islam has Mecca, and Judaism  certainly deserves its presence in Israel and Jerusalem.
  
• Diversity is a virtue not only in the USA, but would be beneficial around the world. We support a diverse Middle East with protection for human rights, respect and equality under the law to all minorities, including Jews and Christians.
  
• Palestinians have several options but are deprived from exercising them because of their leadership, the Arab League and surrounding Arab and Moslem countries who have other goals besides seeing Palestinians live in harmony with Israel.
  
• If Palestinians want democracy they can start practicing it now.
  
• It will benefit Arabs to end the boycott of Israel.
  
• We can resolve our conflicts using non-violent means. Sending our young people on suicide/homicide missions as a form of Jihad is a distortion of Islam. We can do better.
  
• We are appalled by the horrific act of terror against the USA on 9/11/2001.
  
• It will be better for Arabs when the Arab media ends the incitement and misinformation that result in Arab street rage and violence. We support the Arab media providing coverage of ways that people of all religions are and can live together in harmony.
  
• We are eager to see major reformation in how Islam is taught and channeled to bring out the best in Moslems and contribute to the uplifting of the human spirit and advancement of civilization.
  
• We believe in freedom to choose or change one’s Religion.
  
• We cherish and acknowledge the beauty and contributions of the Middle East culture, but recognize that the Arab/Moslem world is in desperate need of constructive self-criticism and reform.
  
• We seek dialogue with Israel. We invite you to join us on a path of love.

We are NOT:

• Anti-Islam, Anti-Arab, confrontational or hateful.

We remember with deep sadness and respect the brave Arabs, known and unknown, who were killed or severely punished for promoting peace with Israel; a special thanks to President Anwar Sadat of Egypt who was killed at the hands of Militant and Radical Islamists after he signed the peace treaty with Israel.

We salute and commend Arab and Moslem writers, scholars and speakers, who found the strength, commitment and honesty in their hearts to speak out in support of Israel. We thank you for being the pioneers that you are and for holding such sophisticated and advanced views in the realm of Arab and Moslem thinking. You are inspiring us all.

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