During UNESCO’s restoration of a 12th-century church destroyed by ISIS in Mosul, architects discovered, alongside a quote from Jesus, a surah from the Quran attesting to the closeness of these two religions. In Egypt, there was a time when Jews and Muslims celebrated some of each other’s religious holidays together. Eastern Christians and Jews lived together without major conflict over the centuries. There were, of course, golden ages, such as in Granada or Córdoba, where under Muslim rule, the arts and culture flourished to levels unmatched by the Catholic countries of the time: one need not mention Ibn Rushd and the Jewish physicians of the sultans, or Maimonides and his writings, nor the Arabs’ rediscovery of the Greek philosophers, which played an important role in the Renaissance. Jesus is mentioned 93 times in the Quran (Sura 4, verses 157–158), David 16 times (with a “lineage leading to Muhammad”), and Abraham (65 times across 24 chapters), as well as Moses. Admittedly, there were instances of aggression and punishment under certain dynasties, but generally speaking, Jews under Arab and Ottoman rule (in Egypt or Palestine, for example) did not suffer pogroms, massacres, or myths such as the drinking of Christian blood and other issues that led to massacres, as we have seen throughout the centuries. Saint Louis, in his crusade, massacred all the Jews in his path (see Aigues Mortes, for example). In short, one must read the classics on the history of antisemitism (the three volumes by Léon Polyakov) to remember that antisemitism has always been a Christian “invention,” not a Muslim one, and here too there is no need to revisit the pogroms, the Inquisition, the massacres, and the Holocaust—all based primarily on the claim “They killed Jesus ” and then “They have too much power,” etc…
Born in Lebanon and having lived in Egypt, my father never wanted to leave Egypt, a land of plenty for him until 1948, the creation of the State of Israel, and the wars that followed. Imagine a train journey from Cairo to Beirut via Gaza, Jaffa, and Haifa before arriving in Beirut; I must have been two years old when I took that trip… True, Jews had to pay an extra tax, but there were no pogroms; as a young Jew in Egypt, I never experienced aggression, insults, etc. The resurgence of Jewish nationalism with the creation of the State of Israel changed everything. Consequently, the successive wars—such as the 1956 conflict and the nationalization of the Suez Canal—led to the departure of nearly all the Jews who had lived there for centuries. As a reminder, the Library of Alexandria was largely run by Jews in a city that was predominantly Jewish.
Gamal Abdel Nasser was the head of the Egyptian army that held Gaza in 1948 and was able to resist Jewish forces for a long time before he received orders to withdraw, leaving Gaza in the hands of the Haganah forces. Consequently, under the command—I believe—of General Ygal Alon, Israel forced tens of thousands of Palestinians from Migdal Shams (now Ashkelon) to move there (after destroying towns and villages), and they have been there ever since! Jews from the East, like those from Iraq, left in a hurry as a result of bombs planted by agents of the Israeli Mossad to force them to emigrate (the evidence has recently been acknowledged).
Admittedly, one should never paint any history in a rosy light, but the creation of the State of Israel changed everything. First came the Nakba—which the Israelis still deny to this day (1,2)—even though there is no shortage of historical data and evidence regarding the some 800,000 Palestinians forced to leave, the roughly 5,000 villages wiped off the map—a fact attested to even by former Haganah soldiers who recount their misdeeds, and documented in films and books (see Ilan Pappe’s works). Israel’s territorial ambitions stretch from the Nile to the Euphrates—as mentioned in the Bible and subsequently by various representative bodies (from the Jewish National Congress in the 1930s to Netanyahu) (3). Consequently, everything fits together, and the massive attacks and occupations in Gaza, southern Lebanon, or Syria follow this exact route (4,5); indeed, some ministers do not even try to hide this.
We also understand why there must be no witnesses—unprecedented massacres of journalists, piracy on the high seas, and the humiliation of members of the Gaza aid flotillas—or why babies are starving and a famine is being orchestrated by blocking access to international food aid trucks and bombing food distribution centers. These very young, fanatical settlers who are smashing and attacking everything in East Jerusalem (8) are clearly being raised on a diet of hatred toward Arabs. Israel must be and remain forever the “pure” land of the Jews and the Jews alone, and therefore the entire diaspora must migrate to the country, as declared by these ministers—great allies and supporters of the far right (9). Once again, Israel is not the first country to massacre a population—examples abound—but it is the first time the executioner has declared itself a victim simply because it is Jewish! Open your eyes: a genocide is unfolding nonstop before us, and our politicians are looking the other way (10,11).
The solution is well known, however. The Israelis must finally understand that peace and sharing the land are their only future. Perpetual war is not a solution; all empires have eventually collapsed throughout history. The recent book by two figures who have both suffered—one whose parents were killed on October 7 and the other whose older brother was killed in Israeli prisons (“Peace Is Our Future” by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon)—illustrates this fully. Imagine for a moment, as John Lennon might say, a Jerusalem that is three times holy—an international territory where priests, imams, and rabbis move freely and lead their holy sites! That would be something entirely different from today’s Jerusalem, cleansed of its long-time inhabitants and reserved solely for Jews! A modest and crazy dream, as the poet Aragon would say, and sung by Ferrat—perhaps, as Lennon might say, one day many of us will wish for it. History teaches us that these two brotherly peoples, just like the Eastern Christians, lived in harmony for centuries; the stubbornness of the Jews of Israel in rejecting this will cost them dearly. Certainly, history does not repeat itself, but it does stutter all the same.
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-wael-ramadan-pmp-lssbb_share-7456434168361594880-wGyM
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/entrepreneurdm_even-if-united-states-say-well-pay-you-ugcPost-7459229298135281664-oVJF
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/from-a-verse-in-the-bible-to-a-map-to-strategy-ugcPost-7441506755756601344-4a7r
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hanslak_gaza-sanctions-hospitals-share-7442580852364079104-X57f
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jamal-chaouki-b244b617_imaginez-un-instant-que-vous-y-%C3%AAtes-corps-ugcPost-7462282954782871552-85MQ
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/els-de-bruijn-%E2%99%A5%EF%B8%8F%F0%9F%96%A4%F0%9F%A4%8D%F0%9F%92%9A-3840a21_please-listen-to-hannah-smith-who-was-on-ugcPost-7456661747492450304-Ylua
- https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:groupPost:16258033-7463161806031597568/
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/faiza-sihem%F0%9F%87%B5%F0%9F%87%B8-bouazouzi-%F0%9F%8D%89%F0%9F%87%A9%F0%9F%87%BF-b0520450_arabic-below-palestinians-confront-zionist-ugcPost-7461006700419010560-Hg4x
- https://www.lemonde.fr/article-offert/b38cd6d4f064-6663080/amichai-chikli-le-ministre-israelien-de-la-diaspora-qui-defie-la-diaspora-juive
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/yahia-m-g-mezied-316276171_israel-killed-every-single-child-in-this-share-7463103763944435713-jx4Y/
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/yahia-m-g-mezied-316276171_israel-killed-every-single-child-in-this-share-7463103763944435713-jx4Y/
Photo Luis Georg Müller – Unsplash
