It is emails like this that vindicate my decision to pursue blogging as a hobby:
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 11:49:11 +0300
From: “E S” <[email protected]>
To: “[email protected]” <[email protected]>
Subject: Regarding israellycoolI’ve been a frequent visitor to your site for a while, and I learned quite a lot about Israel from it. It convinces me that our opinions (as Arabs) regarding Israel are completely skewed and mislead. I currently lead a blog where I was hoping I could get a representative from Israel who will contribute articles about Israeli politics and culture. The blog is visited by a lot of Arabs who make no secret of their hatred towards Israel as a country and its “violent” nation.I think you have the ability to change these opinions, including mine. I link to your website through my group blog, but it will be very effective to actually have an Israeli representative join the scene. I try to inform people more about your views, but they never listen. They seem to enjoy resorting to hatred and ignorance instead. You, however, can change that. I hope you’ll make some time for us. I’m not asking for much, perhaps a weekly article is fine.The blog is located here http://www.mideastyouth.com (and it’s still heavily under construction.) Many of us are moderate Muslims, but certainly not all of us. I understand that you’re not an Israeli at heart, but your opinions after living there for the past couple of years matter. We have never been to Israel (most of us aren’t even legally allowed) so we rely on our media to tell us what Israel is and what Israelis think. These are things that a lot of people here fall for. “Down with Israel” is still being chanted, and it really hurts our image as educated and normal people (which we clearly aren’t, but I’m working towards that as well) if we burn the Israeli flag and wish death upon its citizens merely because we blame everything that goes wrong here on Zionist conspiracies and Israel’s evil leadership and public. Again, the traffic I get from the site shows that most people who read it are Arabs, some of which lead hateful anti-Israel websites. With your help, we can at least prove these people wrong. So please consider doing this, I don’t think I will find someone as understanding as you seem to be. You can maintain your anonymous status.
I have long maintained that moderate Muslims do exist, but need to be more vocal. It is great to hear from some proactive ones, who are really trying to make a difference by promoting peace, understanding Israel’s point of view, and countering the lies and disinformation. It is especially gratifying to receive an email like this at a time when the same, tired old accusations are being made against me, by the same, tired, not-so-old ignoramuses.
In the meantime, please visit http://www.mideastyouth.com and look out for some contributions from me.
