The older I get and, consequently, farther from my largely anti-Jewish upbringing I get, the more I feel that the hatred between Israel and Arab countries is perhaps intentionally fuelled by the media and driven by self-serving regimes far more than well-informed public sentiment.
Take, for example, Saudi Arabia's military escapades in Yemen and contribution to a famine and the suffering of millions of fellow Arabs and Muslims, or the brushing aside of Palestinian concerns and struggles by the UAE. Countries that are most supposed to unite in tackling the region's struggles and human rights issues are the ones most contributing to said issues.
These issues are arguably no less inhumane or conducive to the ongoing struggle of the Arab world than illegal settlements built by Israel, yet the public sentiment in the Arab world isn't nearly as hostile toward Arab countries contributing to them as it is toward Israel. In fact, if number of deaths of innocent Arabs is a primary measure for the Arab world's biggest enemies, then the likes of Bashar al-Assad, Saddam Hussein, Muammar al-Gaddaffi, and the House of Saud put Israel to shame.
This is not the case in mainstream Arabic media, however, which continues to encourage hatred and enmity between Jews and Arabs--especially Arab Muslims. Most people I know have never met or even talked to an Israeli, yet they wouldn't hesitate to express that they wish Israel would literally be wiped off the planet. To them--and to me, before I talked to Israelis online--Israelis are a hated, almost demonic abstraction or archetype of mostly horrible qualities. And when the media keeps conjuring this image in the minds of its audiences, is it any surprise that this is the result?
When I first joined RF around 10 years ago, I was surprised to find Israeli members here and talked to them with significant hostility in the forum's then-chat room. Only after months on the forum and further interactions did I gradually realize that they weren't any different from my friends and people I regularly met. They didn't wish for the destruction of all Arabs or Muslims, didn't even want war, and didn't talk to me differently because I was Arab or Muslim. It dawned on me that perhaps the prevalent notions about Israelis in the Arab world would be very different if we--Arabs and Israelis--actually had more communication with each other without intermediate layers mainly in the form of the media, clerics, and politicians.
In a considerably large bubble of misunderstanding and animosity created by mainstream media and maintained by religious and political demagogues to shape up public sentiment, it seems to me that perhaps it's time the populations of the Middle East sought more independent sources to understand and communicate with groups they have long associated with negative abstractions and oversimplifications in the absence of any direct contact. It is possible the Internet Age may facilitate or enable this. I sure hope so, both for the sake of the region and for the sake of human understanding and compassion.
Take, for example, Saudi Arabia's military escapades in Yemen and contribution to a famine and the suffering of millions of fellow Arabs and Muslims, or the brushing aside of Palestinian concerns and struggles by the UAE. Countries that are most supposed to unite in tackling the region's struggles and human rights issues are the ones most contributing to said issues.
These issues are arguably no less inhumane or conducive to the ongoing struggle of the Arab world than illegal settlements built by Israel, yet the public sentiment in the Arab world isn't nearly as hostile toward Arab countries contributing to them as it is toward Israel. In fact, if number of deaths of innocent Arabs is a primary measure for the Arab world's biggest enemies, then the likes of Bashar al-Assad, Saddam Hussein, Muammar al-Gaddaffi, and the House of Saud put Israel to shame.
This is not the case in mainstream Arabic media, however, which continues to encourage hatred and enmity between Jews and Arabs--especially Arab Muslims. Most people I know have never met or even talked to an Israeli, yet they wouldn't hesitate to express that they wish Israel would literally be wiped off the planet. To them--and to me, before I talked to Israelis online--Israelis are a hated, almost demonic abstraction or archetype of mostly horrible qualities. And when the media keeps conjuring this image in the minds of its audiences, is it any surprise that this is the result?
When I first joined RF around 10 years ago, I was surprised to find Israeli members here and talked to them with significant hostility in the forum's then-chat room. Only after months on the forum and further interactions did I gradually realize that they weren't any different from my friends and people I regularly met. They didn't wish for the destruction of all Arabs or Muslims, didn't even want war, and didn't talk to me differently because I was Arab or Muslim. It dawned on me that perhaps the prevalent notions about Israelis in the Arab world would be very different if we--Arabs and Israelis--actually had more communication with each other without intermediate layers mainly in the form of the media, clerics, and politicians.
In a considerably large bubble of misunderstanding and animosity created by mainstream media and maintained by religious and political demagogues to shape up public sentiment, it seems to me that perhaps it's time the populations of the Middle East sought more independent sources to understand and communicate with groups they have long associated with negative abstractions and oversimplifications in the absence of any direct contact. It is possible the Internet Age may facilitate or enable this. I sure hope so, both for the sake of the region and for the sake of human understanding and compassion.
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