Mohammed Rizwan: What I, a Muslim, did not know about Israel

National Post

17 hours ago

Walking down a beautiful corniche walkway along Mediterranean in Jaffa district not far from downtown Tel Aviv, criss-crossing my way amidst evening joggers and jovial teenagers, I suddenly froze, as I heard sound of Azan — an Islamic call to prayer — blaring from a nearby mosque. None from my group of visiting Canadian journalists took much notice, as few of them have already been to Israel, but for me, it was a shocker. I live in Canada, where religious freedoms are guaranteed and enshrined, but I never heard Azan blaring from loudspeakers here, or in Europe or the United States, even though there are mosques, churches, synagogues, temples that remain busy throughout the year there.
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It heard it in Israel. A supposedly Muslim-enemy state, a Jewish national home, an 'apartheid' state that has been at war with its Muslim Arab neighbours for the last 75 years.
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So, which Israel is real? The one that allows Azan to play from loudspeakers for its two-million Muslim population, the one that employs a Muslim IDF soldier, who I met at the Lebanese border, or one that houses a large and affluent Muslim population in Haifa.
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The problem lies in perception and perspective, I would say.
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People around the world see Israel through their television screens and in context of a 75-year-old conflict, territorial disputes, and the Palestinian question. For most of the world, this is the only lens they hold to look at Israel. Depending on where you live in the world, and what world outlook you grew up with, one essentially looks at Israel through a geo-political binary.
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I think this is not the only way to look at the history and national character of a country. But to look at Israel differently has a prerequisite: leave your preconceived notions out of the bubble you currently live in, get to know the country first-hand, wear the hat of tolerance and love for all faiths, and then try and see the Israel story.
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There is a good chance that you would still see enough to criticize foreign policy choices Israel has made over the years, or, if you know enough context, one should be able to see why those choices were made, when they were made, over the last few decades.
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Take for example two-state solution theory. How many people care to remember that there were three occasions in history when Israel agreed to and accepted a two-state solution (1948, 1991, 2000) but Palestinians refused. And finally, when they got the autonomy for Gaza and West Bank (which, in a way, was two-state, what else?), they used that autonomy and aid to perpetuate terrorism.