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Brigitte Gabriel - Speaks the Truth at Duke University on 10-14

Posted: 10/22/2004 9:13:00 AM

Author: Brigitte Gabriel, Lebanese Christian

Source: http://www.standwithus.com

Remarks of Brigitte Gabriel

Delivered at the Duke University

Counter Terrorism Speak out

October 14, 2004

I'm proud and honored to stand here today as a Lebanese speaking for Israel the only democracy in the Middle East. As someone who was raised in an Arabic country I want to give you a glimpse into the heart ofthe Arabic world.

I was raised in Lebanon where I was taught that the Jews were evil, Israel was the devil, and the only time we will have peace in the Middle East is when we kill all the Jews and drive them into the sea.

When the Moslems and Palestinians declared Jihad on the Christians in1975, they started massacring the Christians city after city. I ended up living in a bomb shelter underground from age 10 to 17 without electricity, eating grass to live and crawling under sniper bullets to a spring to get water.

It was Israel who came to help the Christians in Lebanon. My mother was wounded by a Moslem shell and was taken into an Israeli hospital for treatment. When we entered the emergency room, I was shocked at what I saw. There were hundreds of people wounded, Moslems, Palestinians, Christian Lebanese and Israeli soldiers lying on the floor. The doctors treated everyone according to their injuries. They treated my mother before they treated the Israeli soldier lying next to her. They didn't see religion, they didn't see political affiliation, they saw people in need, and they helped.

For the first time in my life, I experienced a human quality that I know my culture would not have shown to their enemy. I experienced the values of the Israelis who were able to love their enemy in their most trying moments.

I spent 22 days at that hospital; those days changed my life and the way I believe information, the way I listen to the radio or to television. I realized I was sold a fabricated lie by my government about the Jews and Israel that

was so far from reality. I knew for fact that if I was a Jew standing in an Arab hospital, I would be lynched and thrown over to the grounds as shouts of joy of Allahu Akbar (God is great) would echo through the hospital and the surrounding streets.

I became friends with the families of the Israeli wounded soldiers; one in particular Rina, her only child was wounded in his eyes.

One day I was visiting with her, and the Israeli army band came to play national songs to lift the spirits of the wounded soldiers. As they surrounded his bed playing a song about Jerusalem, Rina and I started crying. I felt out of place and started walking out of the room, and this mother holds my hand and pulls me back in without even looking at me. She holds me crying and says: "it is not your fault". We just stood there crying and holding each other's hands.

What a contrast between her, a mother looking at her deformed 19-year- old only child, and still able to love me, the enemy, and between a Moslem mother who sends her son to blow himself up to smithereens just to kill a few Jews or Christians.

The difference between the Arabic world and Israel is a difference in values and character. It's barbarism versus civilization. It's democracy versus dictatorship. It's goodness versus evil.

Once upon a time, there was a special place in the lowest depths of hell for anyone who would intentionally murder a child. Now, the intentional murder of Israeli children is legitimized as Palestinian "armed struggle." However, once such behavior is legitimized against Israel, it is legitimized everywhere in the world, constrained by nothing more than the subjective belief of people who would wrap themselves in dynamite and nails for the purpose of killing children in the name of God.

Because the Palestinians have been encouraged to believe that murdering innocent Israeli civilians is a legitimate tactic for advancing their cause, the whole world now suffers from a plague of terrorism, from Nairobi to New York, from Moscow to Madrid, from Bali to Beslan.

They blame suicide bombing on "desperation of occupation." Let me tell you the truth. The first major terror bombing committed by Arabs against the Jewish state occurred ten weeks before Israel even became independent. On Sunday morning, February 22, 1948, in anticipation of Israel 's independence, a triple truck bomb was detonated by Arab terrorists on Ben Yehuda Street in what was then the Jewish section of Jerusalem. Fifty-four people were killed, and hundreds were wounded. Thus, it is obvious that Arab terrorism is caused not by the "desperation" or "occupation," but by the VERY THOUGHT of a Jewish state.

So many times in history in the last 100 years, citizens have stood by and done nothing, allowing evil to prevail. As America stood up against and defeated communism, now it is time to stand up against the terror of religious bigotry and intolerance. It's time to all stand up and support and defend the state of Israel, which is the front line of the war against terrorism.

Thank you.

Copyright © 2000-2004, All Rights Reserved

StandWithUs.com Israel Advocacy

We Win...4 More Years!

I was generally right about most of the states in the Union.

The ones I got wrong were:

Hawaii (Kerry by 37,209)

Pennsylvania (Kerry by 121,458)

Minnesota (Kerry by 98,396)

New Jersey (Kerry by 211,826)

Wisconsin (Kerry by 11,813)

The popular vote: 51-48, I called 52-48.

All in all, not too bad.

I missed on the electoral vote: 274-252 Bush!

Not quite a landslide I'm afraid, but enough for no one to complain for another four years. Yeah!

I Should be Studying But...

Of course choosing my picks on which way the swing states will swing is WAY more important than studying to GRADUATE! I do not think that this election is going to be as close as people think. Popular vote will be 52% Bush, 48% Kerry.

As far as the individual swing states go, here they are:

Colorado - Bush

Florida - Bush

Iowa - Bush

Maine - Kerry

Michigan - Kerry (too bad)

Minnesota - Bush

Nevada - Bush

New Hampshire - Kerry

New Jersey - Bush (don't forget 9-11)

New Mexico - Bush

Ohio - Bush

Oregon - Kerry

Pennsylvania - Bush

West Virginia - Bush

Wisconsin - Bush

The Final Results of the Electoral College will be:

Bush 346 - Kerry 192

I believe that Bush could even afford to lose Ohio and Florida and still win the election. Those Democratic lawyers sitting around waiting to challenge the results are going to look pretty darn stupid. It's going to be a blow out. I know I'm going out on a limb here, but I'll stand by this and tomorrow night (or sometime after that) I'll either be writing a retraction or saying "I told you so!"

Happy Election Day!

Predictions

I believe that President Bush will win the Presidential election. It will be a close popular vote - with Bush winning. However, the electoral college will not be close with possibly a 30 vote difference. Bush will win.

Go Ezra!

Jews for George does it again!

Check out Ezra with his sign!

Now You See It?

Did I miss something? Three weeks before the election, and the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is now looking for nuclear equipment that seems to have gone missing from Iraq. Time to turn up my hearing aid. The U.N. is looking for nuclear equipment from where? Iraq? Hadn't they already decided that Saddam was incapable of building Weapons of Mass Destruction? That the President "lied" to us in order to bring the country to war? How could something be missing if they were not there to begin with? Now stop and think: was President Dubya actually right about WMDs? Goodness, what has the world come to.

Not that long ago, actually only about a week ago, the news media treated all of America to the testimony of Charles Duelfer, the top United States arms inspector for Iraq, that he had found no evidence that Iraq had recently produced any WMDs. However, he did believe that "Saddam retained his notions of use of force and had experiences that demonstrated the utility of WMD." Good old Saddam. [msnbc.msn./id/6190720]

Now I'm confused. As of a week ago, the world was screaming about the illegality of the Iraq invasion, the U.N. is looking for nuclear equipment that went missing from Iraq, and the United States is being blamed for not securing that nuclear equipment when the war was officially over. There seems to be a disconnect here.

The equipment that has gone missing was dual-use machinery that could have been used for other purposes than just for creating nuclear weapons. According to IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky, "The kind of equipment we're talking about is the sort of thing that has a multitude of industrial applications. We were satisfied that it was not being used for a nuclear weapons program." [cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/12/iraq.nuclear] Really. Don't forget, Saddam Hussein is a man of his word, if he says he doesn't have nukes, he means it. Never mind that the U.S. found low-grade uranium when we liberated Iraq, that's not news worthy. [news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3736158.stm]

"In the wrong hands, it could be turned to use in a nuclear weapons program," Gwozdecky said. Remember, up until the time that the United States invaded, this equipment was in Saddam's hands. We could surely trust him to make the right decisions.

Where has this machinery gone? Iraqi Interior Minister advisor Sabah Kadhim has stated that that the looting was carried out by "neighboring countries". Can that be right? Friendly, "neighboring countries", like Iran and Syria, came into Iraq and walked off with nuclear equipment? Does that mean that they could have walked off with anything else? Like the WMDs themselves? Could this be why we haven't found them? [cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/12/iraq.nuclear]

So which is it? Did Saddam Hussein have the capability to produce Weapons of Mass Destruction or not? If Iraqi Minister Kadhim has said that "neighboring countries" looted Iraq of buildings worth of equipment, why should we be surprised that we are unable to find the WMDs that the entire world intelligence community believed was there to begin with? Is it possible that no "massive intelligence failure" took place? Say goodbye to those migrating WMDs.

Michael Moore and the Hezbollah Connection

Is it really true? Is there a connection between Michael Moore and the Hezbollah terrorist organization which is responsible for the deaths of many innocent Israelis and Americans?

According to The Guardian Weekly (6/17/04), "in the United Arab Emirates, the film is being offered the kind of support it doesn't need. According to Screen International, the UAE-based distributor Front Row Entertainment has been contacted by organisations related to Hezbollah in Lebanon with offers of help."

The interesting part of this story is not that Hezbollah has offered to help Moore distribute his anti-Bush film of half-truths, but that this help was not turned down. The movie industry publication Screen Daily also records this offer, "In terms of marketing the film, Front Row is getting a boost from organizations related to Hezbollah which have rung up from Lebanon to ask if there's anything they can do to support the film."

The story then quotes Front Row Managing director Gianluca Chacra: "We can't go against these organization as they could strongly boycott the film in Lebanon and Syria."

Goodness! Boycott the film in Lebanon and Syria! How terrible!

It is good to know that Michael Moore and those he chooses to distribute his films are more concerned about the money to be made in Lebanon (a pseudo-state, known for its drug growing) and the terrorist supporting state of Syria. Both known for their physical and vocal attacks on Israel. Capitalism at its worst.

At least we know that Michael Moore has his principles. Money over morality would be number one on his list.

The Insanity of Michael Moore

The amazing thing about Moore's 9/11 film is that people are going to the theatres to actually spend money to see what they think is a documentary.

Which is funny in a sad sort of way. I always thought that documentary films were based in truth and fact. Moore's film is based in neither of those concepts. I'm not sure Moore would recognize those ideas if they bit him in the ankle.

In actuality, the fact that he won a film award in France, and the known terrorist group Hizbollah has given him money to support the distribution of the film should make everyone's eyebrows lift and wonder why Moore hasn't been arrested for being involved in a terrorist organization.

I suppose that Moore would say that he has freedom of speech. On this point he would be correct. Of my many objections to this film is that it is called a "documentary". I should think that there is a specific definition to this word, but I suppose that would be nit picking of me.

I suppose that I am not tolerant of people who make conscious efforts to destroy truth. I am certainly not tolerant of those who not only destroy truth, but make up lies and portray those lies and distortions as truth and reality.

Michael Moore is a disgrace as a person, as an American, as a film maker, and certainly as someone who proports to document reality.

I sincerely hope that people do not go see his movie and keep their hard earned money from filling an undeserving bank account.

Day of Mourning

Another Jewish family has been destroyed today. An eight month pregnant woman and her four daughters were murdered today on the road in Israel on their way to protest the Gaza withdrawl plan. These are true heroes. This is an example of what the plan will do. We cannot turn our eyes away. What will be our response?

Never Again!

Monday, April 19th was Holocaust Memorial Day. This is the day where we remember the 6 million Jews that were murdered by the Nazis, of which 1.5 million were children. This is the day we repeat the mantra, “Never Again”. Never again will we be hunted down and killed. Never again will we live in fear. Never again, never again.

The world too repeats the mantra “Never Again”. Never again will we appease dictators. Never again will we allow innocent millions to be murdered. Never again, never again.

“Never again” is a wonderful mantra. It ranks right up there with “we won’t negotiate with terrorists”. Of course we know that words mean nothing. Only action counts.

Adolf Hitler was elected into power in 1933, and began the persecution of German Jewry. In 1938, an international conference, made up of delegates from 32 countries (including the U.S. and Britain) was held in Evian, France to discuss the problem of Jewish refugees from Germany trying to escape. Somehow there was no solution that could be found and German Jews were left to suffer. The extermination of a third of the Jewish People began in earnest in 1941.

The United States knew about the Nazi plans as early as 1942, but chose to do nothing.

Germans living through the time claim that they did not know what was happening to the Jewish population of the country. No doubt. It’s hard to see what is happening when your eyes are closed.

So we return to “Never Again.” Looking at the international community, the same community that couldn’t find a place for those Jews in trouble only 60 years ago. This week the Arab League asked for a special meeting of the Security Council, in order to discuss Israel’s action over the last three weeks killing two Hamas leaders who were responsible for hundreds of innocent deaths. Of course, we would never see the Arab League asking for a meeting to discuss the lack of human rights, or help in tracking down terrorists in their own countries. Certainly not, since they are the ones funding terrorists in the first place. Except for the United States, every delegate from around the world condemned Israel. It is good to see the international community doing what it does best...cowering before terrorism.

Does this surprise anyone? The international community is good and ready to role over and die. Former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam has called on the United States and Britain to begin negotiations with Osama bin Laden. What a brilliant thought, maybe we can convince a mass murderer that he really wants to be a Boy Scout when he grows up.

60 years ago, the British accomplished “peace in our time” with Herr Adolf Hitler by handing him the Sudetenland on a silver platter in order to avoid war. A wonderful idea which landed them in World War II. Appeasement is a fancy word for blackmail. I won’t shoot you if you give me what I want. Spain has already rolled over, is there anyone else who would like to join them?

“Never Again” is a waste of breath. The world has forgotten the realities of war. The world has forgotten that appeasement does not work. The world has forgotten that dictators and terrorists feed off weakness.

Holocaust Memorial Day should not be a day only spent in remembrance. It should stand as a lesson to every single person on how to confront evil. It must be wiped out without apology.

"Fervently" Orthodox

Just a thought to pass along from a good friend:

Why is it that we are now calling Orthodox Jews "fervently" Orthodox? It makes us look like we're over the top - a bit on the crazy side of things. Why is it that it's okay to call the Orthodox "fervently" Jewish but it would be terrible to call Conservative or Reform Jews "unfervently" Jewish? Why this one-sidedness?

The “What If” Game

Let’s play the “what if” game. What if Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, stayed there and didn’t bother anybody? What if Hitler decided that going to war with America was a bad idea and was perfectly happy being the new Polish dictator? What if the United States had said, “What a great idea, we don’t have to go to war in Europe and have our good men killed?” What if America closed its eyes and hoped that the mustache-wearing Adolf would just disappear? What if...

Keep dreaming. World War II didn’t happen that way. Hitler went on from Poland to walk through and conquer the rest of Europe, was within an arms length of destroying Great Britain, and went on to invade the Soviet Union. The question must be asked, who stopped Hitler? It was the United States of America.

If it were not for the United States’s involvement in the Second World War, the world today would look drastically different than it currently does. The Third Reich would replace todays European Union, and Her Royal Majesty’s citizens would be speaking German.

The United States could have stayed out of World War II, but didn’t. We saw a threat and believed that the threat needed to be stopped by all means necessary. This involvement and ultimate victory over evil cost the United States 292,000 men (not including the wounded), and 2,896.3 billion dollars (in 2002 money) equal to 130% of the United States’s annual GDP.

Approximately a total of 17.2 million Allied soldiers died stopping them, with the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain losing the most men in battle. In addition, there were also 27.3 million more civilian casualties. Was this a pretty war? No. Was it necessary to have so many die in the defense of freedom? Absolutely. We owe these Allied soldiers our liberties and freedom that we take for granted every day.

Let us look at the reconstruction of Europe after the war by the United States. The U.S. decided to put Europe on a solid economic footing so dictators like Hitler would not be able to take advantage of a bad situation and drag the world back into war. The United States looked at the big picture and invested even more money under the Marshall Plan into Europe in order to avoid a possible war in the future.

Turning to today’s War on Terror. We are faced with an enemy that is harder to identify than yesterday’s Nazi but yet has the same goal of world domination. Islamic terrorists have called for Muslims around the world to take up arms against Americans. These terrorists are unafraid to die in their campaign against us. What do we do? Do we play “what if”? What if terrorists hadn’t flown two planes into the World Trade Center? What if the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan didn’t exist? What if Saddam Hussein hadn’t supported terrorism around the world? Let’s close our eyes and hope that he disappears into thin air. Saddam’s only torturing his own people, why should we care? If the Trade Center collapsed and no one saw 3,000 people die...did they really die? We then can assume that the 200 Spaniards who died in the Madrid train attack aren’t dead either.

60 years ago our Allies did not recognize the Nazi threat until Hitler marched his troops through their front door. Today, history repeats itself. Once again our Allies do not realize the danger they are in. They too are on a hit list. They choose to close their eyes and hope that terrorism will go away. They are waiting to see terrorism on their front porch before they open their eyes and move to defend themselves. Again, the United States is at the forefront of the war.

This is a war that is costing lives; both military and civilian. This war will cost the U.S. and the world billions if not trillions of dollars. We won the war against the Nazis. Will we win the war against terrorism? I don’t believe so. When we see our soldiers being killed in Iraq, and civilians being murdered around the world, we lose our perspective. We assume that if we click our heels together and chant, “there’s no place like home”, terrorism will cease. Nonsense. Winning the war against the Nazis took four long years with millions dead, and billions spent. Billions more were spent reconstructing Europe. Americans once had patience and forethought. Today Americans only see their dead in front of them and nothing more. Do we expect to win this new world war on terrorism? We will only win if we open our eyes and stop playing “What If”.