Nonie Darwish, the Arab-American founder of Arabs for Israel and author of "Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror," spoke to approximately 50 students in Barnum Hall last night.
Darwish discussed topics ranging from women's rights in the Middle East, the threat of radical Islamic terrorism, and the need to empower the moderate Arab voice. She staunchly supports Israel and its fight against the "unending war" waged against it by its Arab neighbors, despite her Arab upbringing.
"[Israel] is a country that deserves our respect, and not our hatred," she said, calling it the "scapegoat" of the Middle East's rage.
Darwish grew up in Gaza City and Cairo in the 1950s and '60s, where she was surrounded by images and sounds of jihad, she said.
Childhood songs, classroom lessons and life lessons all referenced death and martyrdom.
Her father, Mustafa Hafez, was a general in the Egyptian army in Gaza in the 1950s, where he founded the fedayeen, which launched raids across the border into Israel. Around 400 Israelis were killed as a result of the fedayeen's actions.
In 1956, when she was a child, the Israeli Defense Force assassinated Darwish's father in response to his actions in Israel.
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser immortalized him in a speech in which he called him a martyr in the struggle against Israel.
It was Sept. 11, 2001, Darwish said, that resolved her to speak out in the name of Arabs in support of the war on terror, America and Israel.
Instead of blaming Israel, she said that the many enraged young Muslims should direct their anger toward the powerful, oppressive religious elites who she said are keeping their freedoms curtailed.
She stressed to Muslim students in the audience that being pro-Israeli does not mean anti-Arab, saying that "peace with Israel ... is the starting point that will free us and change us."
According to her, the Arab world is wasting its time on "Jew-hating." Instead, she said it should be investing its time in improving human and women's rights, and putting its money in upgrading infrastructure, not funding terrorism. Women, she said, should be a driving force for change in the Arab world.
She also had harsh words for both Western and Arab media, saying that the West does not ask enough hard questions of Arab leaders, and Arab leaders do nothing to expose the killing of Muslims by Muslims in Iraq, Darfur and Nigeria.
Now, newspapers in Cairo denounce Darwish as an "infidel" who disgraces her father's image.
Darwish countered that Arab-Americans are obliged to speak out against Islamic fundamentalism. "Our silence could be regarded as approval," she said.
A question and answer session followed the speech and included some lively debate between Darwish and some Muslim students in the audience.
One student questioned Darwish's generalization of Sharia, or Islamic, law, saying that all Muslims cannot be generalized as radical, and that there are a lot of ways to interpret Islamic law and Arab culture.
"It was good to hear a dissenting voice," senior Rachel Leven said of the student's comments.
The Tufts University Friends of Israel, the Judaic Studies department and the English department hosted the event.
