Rafat Harb

🚨A message to the pro-Israel camp: I’ve known this community for a very long time. The overwhelming majority are amazing, kind-hearted, intelligent, and loving people in America, Canada, Europe, and Israel. Most are proud of their non-Jewish allies, including their Muslim allies and, of course, their Christian allies. I don’t think many Muslims have stood up against radical Islamists as consistently as I have, or faced as much backlash from them. But by the grace of God, I have the strength to confront their ideology because I know its sources and once had to expunge its influence from my own thinking. And I fight this battle as a Muslim, not as an ex-Muslim; as a proud Arab and a proud Muslim. Because I have always said: if moderate Muslims don’t stand up to the radicals, their silence leaves the radicals unchallenged (Agreement in silence). However, there is a small but dangerous minority within the pro-Israel camp that tolerates hatred against all Muslims, not just radical Islamists, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, or other extremist movements, but Muslims as a whole. And they need to understand the damage they are causing. What is the end game? To isolate Israel and the Jewish people even further? I want Muslims to love and accept Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, living side by side in peace with its Muslim and Arab neighbors including Palestinians, who deserve to live in dignity, security, and prosperity. I want Muslims to stand against the enemies of peace: Hamas, the IRGC, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, and every movement that uses religion to justify extremism and violence. I want confused and misinformed Muslims to learn about the Jewish people, Jewish history, and the extraordinary common ground between Muslims and Jews. I want us to thrive together and build a future that would make our forefather Abraham and his sons Ishmael and Isaac proud. I want a Middle East where Israel is no longer hated and isolated, but accepted by all its Muslim neighbors. And this small, dangerous minority within the pro-Israel camp risks blowing that vision to smithereens. They are undermining one of the greatest breakthroughs in modern American diplomacy: the Abraham Accords. They are shooting themselves in the foot. So again, I ask: What is your end game? When I visited Israel for the first time, I met senior government officials who spoke proudly about their Muslim friends and Israel’s Muslim community. They understood something fundamental: a war against the terrorists of Hamas must never become a war against Muslims. That distinction is precisely what this dangerous minority in the American pro-Israel camp fails to understand. Don’t destroy what President Donald J. Trump and his team worked to build. Don’t destroy the hope the Abraham Accords have created in our region. And don’t become the mirror image of the radical extremists you claim to oppose. Because when hatred is directed at Muslims simply for being Muslims, we will call it out and stand against it just as firmly as we stand against Islamist extremism…without apology.