Arabs Who Saved the Jews
Many of the relatives of Arabs who saved Jews did not know about their ancestors' actions. How did they react to your research?
I was surprised about how reluctant many of [them] were to join with me in celebrating the wonderful humanitarian deeds of their fathers and grandfathers. I don't want to say it applied to everyone I talked to. But I was shocked, for example, when I went into the home of the children and grandchildren of one humanitarian in Tunisia, and I wanted to ask their help in bringing to light this gentleman's great deeds. They said they had no idea, that they wanted more proof, and they were very happy to see me leave. Sometime over the last 60 years it became unacceptable to be seen as having saved Jews.
What reaction have you gotten from Arab readers?
The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. I think the most poignant response I received was from one Arab who wrote me and said, "Thank you for telling the stories of heroes, but thank you also for telling the stories of villains. It is so important for the world to know that we Arabs are not cardboard cutouts."
You describe the book as "the most hopeful story I have ever told." How so?
I believe it provides tools to help to open people's minds. For me, the main target audience in the Arab world is not the jihadists. Their minds are closed. It is the vast middle, whose main characteristic is either ignorance or disinterest or being susceptible to various ideas. They're the people on the front lines of the greatest battle of our day, the battle against the ideology of radical extremism.
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