Real Feminist: Nonie Darwish
July 28th 2007 21:35
In this frightening age of radical Muslim extremism, it is difficult to find a more powerful, inspiring female role model than Nonie Darwish, author of the new book, Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror. The outspoken, Egyptian-born Darwish -- daughter of a Muslim Shahid (Martyr) -- opines from personal experience, having been raised on hateful propaganda against Jews and other non-Muslims.
Born in Cairo, Darwish moved to Gaza in the 1950’s when her father, Lt. General Mustafa Hafez, was sent by Gamal Abdel Nasser to serve as commander of the Egyptian Army Intelligence in Gaza, occupied at the time by Egypt. Hafez founded the Fedayeen which launched raids across Israel’s southern border, killing about 400 Israelis between 1951 and 1956. In July of 1956, when Darwish was just eight years-old, her father became the first targeted assassination of the Israeli Defense Forces, in response to these unprovoked attacks, elevating him to martyrdom status in the Islamic culture. Nasser then vowed publicly that all of Egypt would avenge Hafez’s death. Most shockingly, he posed this chilling question to Darwish and her siblings: “Which one of you will avenge your father’s death by killing Jews?”
Says Darwish, “I always blamed Israel for my father’s death because that’s what I was taught. I never looked at why Israel killed my father. They killed my father because the Fedayeen were killing Israelis. They killed my father because when I was growing up, we had to recite poetry pledging jihad against Israel. We would have tears in our eyes pledging that we wanted to die. I speak to people who think there was no terrorism against Israel before the ’67 war. How can they deny it? My father died in it.”
After his death, the family moved to Cairo, where Darwish attended Catholic high school before obtaining her degree in Sociology/Anthropology from the American University in Cairo. After emigrating to the United States in 1978 with her husband, Darwish ultimately received her American citizenship, and opted to worship at a non-denominational evangelical church rather than a mosque. She no longer practices Islam because she believes that even American mosques promote a radical anti-Israel, anti-American and anti-peace agenda.
Darwish’s website, Arabs for Israel[U], was created as a worldwide forum for Arabs and Muslims who renounce the violence and bloodshed perpetuated globally by extremists in the name of Allah. Its mission statement reads, “To Muslims and Arabs across the globe: Reject hate, embrace love. Bring out the best in Islam by showing your compassion, gratitude and forgiveness. Make the holy land truly holy by giving Israel and the Jewish people the respect they deserve in their tiny little country. This is not a crisis over land. It is a crisis of the soul; a crisis in our faith, judgment and self confidence. Israel should not be regarded as an enemy, but as a blessing to our neighborhood. We need not fear peace, but embrace it.”
Talk radio host Laura Ingraham recently featured Darwish on her program, where she spoke about her new book and implored Americans to free themselves from the shackles of political correctness, the rope by which the enemy will eventually hang us, if we don’t wake up to reality. Darwish also called upon elected leaders in Washington D.C. to understand the grave danger to the world posed by the pervasive threat of global jihad. With respect to Iraq, she believes a pull-out of troops by the United States would be catastrophic, emboldening our enemies who would view such action as a sign of weakness and cowardice, thus proving Osama Bin Laden’s theory that the United States is nothing more than a spineless “paper tiger.”
In addition to her book and website, Darwish also appears in the new film, Obsession: Radical Islam’s War with the West. In a recent MSNBC interview she urged all Muslims to view it, claiming that the first step to a more peaceful existence with Muslims and non-Muslims alike is “self-reformation.” In her view, the film’s unbiased exploration of the origins of hatred in the Middle East -- utilizing real footage of hateful propaganda, suicide bombers and impassioned calls for jihad against non-Muslims by various imams and other leaders -- will act as a “mirror” by which moderates can clearly see the root causes of the extremist agenda.
When asked why she chose to involve herself in the project, Darwish responded, “After 9/11, it is my duty to speak out. I owe it to the 3,000 Americans who died on that day.” She also fears that, even in the wake of the most horrific attack on US soil, Americans are still not grasping the threat that radical Islam poses to western civilization. For example, most are blissfully unaware of the term “caliphate,” which describes a supreme, totalitarian Muslim state, in which radical Islam and government are one.
The ultimate goal of Islamic extremism is a worldwide caliphate dominated by the oppressive “Sharia Law,” which mandates – among other atrocities – the stoning of women for the crime of adultery, polygamy for men only, and the ability of a man to divorce his wife simply by stating the words, “I divorce you” three times, while denying that same right to a woman. Even if her husband is physically and mentally abusive, under Sharia Law, a woman cannot obtain a divorce without his permission.
Non-Muslims of either sex in such an intolerant society wouldn’t fare much better. Referred to as “Dhimmis,” non-Muslims are distinctly 2nd-class citizens forbidden to serve in public office or testify in court. They are further humiliated by the imposition of a special tax called a “jizya,” simply for the “offense” of being a non-Muslim, and denied the privilege of practicing their faith. Should they attempt to “proselytize” a Muslim, the punishment is death, although the reverse – conversion to Islam – is permitted.
With the grave threat of total submission and subservience to intolerant, head-chopping misogynistic fanatics looming large, one would expect that an authentic courageous female voice like Darwish would be celebrated by the American mainstream media and feminists alike. Alas, the silence is deafening. While conservative thinkers like Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck and Kathryn Lopez of National Review have featured Darwish on their radio programs and articles, she’s been largely ignored by The New York Times, The Washington Post and even the “perky” poster girl of modern feminism, Katie Couric, of CBS Evening News.
While I cannot personally attest to their motivations and rationalizations for neglecting to present Darwish’s point of view to the American public, I can speculate, based on their specious choices of feminine media darlings. Actress Scarlett Johansen is a recent example. In an interview posted on Contactmusic.com, Johansen provided some clarifying insight as to the pressing issues of modern feminism:
"We are supposed to be liberated in America but if our President had his way, we wouldn't be educated about sex at all. Every woman would have six children and we wouldn't be able to have abortions."
Did I miss something? Has birth control – natural or artificial -- suddenly been outlawed in the United States? And if what Johansen claims is true, how is it possible that the typical American family consists of two children?
As ridiculous as Johansen’s statement is, it is sadly reflective of the misguided agenda of so-called women’s rights champions. I recently opined about Ms. Magazine’s appalling “We had abortions” campaign, a dubious endeavor that might possibly have caused the pro-family, pro-female feminist pioneer, Susan B. Anthony to turn over in her grave. Where is the feminist outrage over female genital mutilation in Islamic culture? Why aren’t the Jane Fonda’s and Kim Gandy’s of the world leading the charge against the Saudi Arabian government for sentencing a gang rape victim to 90 lashes for the “offense” of riding in a car alone with a man to whom she was not married?
And, relevant to Nonie Darwish, where was the feminist outrage when Brown University trampled upon her right to free speech? Darwish had been invited by a campus Jewish group, Hillel, to enlighten Brown University students about the sick hatred and extremism she grew to despise and ultimately reject in her own culture. In a cave-in to campus Muslim groups claiming she was “too controversial,” Brown University denied her a platform and cancelled the event. Even the University’s women’s center, a co-sponsor of the lecture, agreed to the decision. Interestingly enough, no one took offense to Brown’s unabashedly anti-Israel “Palestinian Solidarity Week.” I suppose the right to free speech is contingent upon having the right “agenda.” For American feminists, it appears the right to murder unborn babies and uphold the tenets of political correctness trump all other considerations.
How pathetic.
No thanks to modern day feminists but with deep gratitude for the courage and conviction of women like Nonie Darwish, Americans and all freedom-loving people across the globe have been given an opportunity and a warning to put all of their self-destructive hypersensitivity and political-correctness aside and fight for their culture and survival. The only way to truly comprehend and ultimately defeat the determined enemy that actively and daily plots our destruction is to listen to those who know whereof they speak.
Coming from a Middle-Eastern woman with personal experience of the bloody consequences of abject hatred and fanaticism, it is advice and advocacy well-heeded. Those who ignore or reject her do so at their own peril, whether everyday citizens, mainstream media mavens, so-called feminists or even Washington D.C. politicians. Wake up America and the free world, before it is too late.
Born in Cairo, Darwish moved to Gaza in the 1950’s when her father, Lt. General Mustafa Hafez, was sent by Gamal Abdel Nasser to serve as commander of the Egyptian Army Intelligence in Gaza, occupied at the time by Egypt. Hafez founded the Fedayeen which launched raids across Israel’s southern border, killing about 400 Israelis between 1951 and 1956. In July of 1956, when Darwish was just eight years-old, her father became the first targeted assassination of the Israeli Defense Forces, in response to these unprovoked attacks, elevating him to martyrdom status in the Islamic culture. Nasser then vowed publicly that all of Egypt would avenge Hafez’s death. Most shockingly, he posed this chilling question to Darwish and her siblings: “Which one of you will avenge your father’s death by killing Jews?”
Says Darwish, “I always blamed Israel for my father’s death because that’s what I was taught. I never looked at why Israel killed my father. They killed my father because the Fedayeen were killing Israelis. They killed my father because when I was growing up, we had to recite poetry pledging jihad against Israel. We would have tears in our eyes pledging that we wanted to die. I speak to people who think there was no terrorism against Israel before the ’67 war. How can they deny it? My father died in it.”
After his death, the family moved to Cairo, where Darwish attended Catholic high school before obtaining her degree in Sociology/Anthropology from the American University in Cairo. After emigrating to the United States in 1978 with her husband, Darwish ultimately received her American citizenship, and opted to worship at a non-denominational evangelical church rather than a mosque. She no longer practices Islam because she believes that even American mosques promote a radical anti-Israel, anti-American and anti-peace agenda.
Darwish’s website, Arabs for Israel[U], was created as a worldwide forum for Arabs and Muslims who renounce the violence and bloodshed perpetuated globally by extremists in the name of Allah. Its mission statement reads, “To Muslims and Arabs across the globe: Reject hate, embrace love. Bring out the best in Islam by showing your compassion, gratitude and forgiveness. Make the holy land truly holy by giving Israel and the Jewish people the respect they deserve in their tiny little country. This is not a crisis over land. It is a crisis of the soul; a crisis in our faith, judgment and self confidence. Israel should not be regarded as an enemy, but as a blessing to our neighborhood. We need not fear peace, but embrace it.”
Talk radio host Laura Ingraham recently featured Darwish on her program, where she spoke about her new book and implored Americans to free themselves from the shackles of political correctness, the rope by which the enemy will eventually hang us, if we don’t wake up to reality. Darwish also called upon elected leaders in Washington D.C. to understand the grave danger to the world posed by the pervasive threat of global jihad. With respect to Iraq, she believes a pull-out of troops by the United States would be catastrophic, emboldening our enemies who would view such action as a sign of weakness and cowardice, thus proving Osama Bin Laden’s theory that the United States is nothing more than a spineless “paper tiger.”
In addition to her book and website, Darwish also appears in the new film, Obsession: Radical Islam’s War with the West. In a recent MSNBC interview she urged all Muslims to view it, claiming that the first step to a more peaceful existence with Muslims and non-Muslims alike is “self-reformation.” In her view, the film’s unbiased exploration of the origins of hatred in the Middle East -- utilizing real footage of hateful propaganda, suicide bombers and impassioned calls for jihad against non-Muslims by various imams and other leaders -- will act as a “mirror” by which moderates can clearly see the root causes of the extremist agenda.
When asked why she chose to involve herself in the project, Darwish responded, “After 9/11, it is my duty to speak out. I owe it to the 3,000 Americans who died on that day.” She also fears that, even in the wake of the most horrific attack on US soil, Americans are still not grasping the threat that radical Islam poses to western civilization. For example, most are blissfully unaware of the term “caliphate,” which describes a supreme, totalitarian Muslim state, in which radical Islam and government are one.
The ultimate goal of Islamic extremism is a worldwide caliphate dominated by the oppressive “Sharia Law,” which mandates – among other atrocities – the stoning of women for the crime of adultery, polygamy for men only, and the ability of a man to divorce his wife simply by stating the words, “I divorce you” three times, while denying that same right to a woman. Even if her husband is physically and mentally abusive, under Sharia Law, a woman cannot obtain a divorce without his permission.
Non-Muslims of either sex in such an intolerant society wouldn’t fare much better. Referred to as “Dhimmis,” non-Muslims are distinctly 2nd-class citizens forbidden to serve in public office or testify in court. They are further humiliated by the imposition of a special tax called a “jizya,” simply for the “offense” of being a non-Muslim, and denied the privilege of practicing their faith. Should they attempt to “proselytize” a Muslim, the punishment is death, although the reverse – conversion to Islam – is permitted.
With the grave threat of total submission and subservience to intolerant, head-chopping misogynistic fanatics looming large, one would expect that an authentic courageous female voice like Darwish would be celebrated by the American mainstream media and feminists alike. Alas, the silence is deafening. While conservative thinkers like Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck and Kathryn Lopez of National Review have featured Darwish on their radio programs and articles, she’s been largely ignored by The New York Times, The Washington Post and even the “perky” poster girl of modern feminism, Katie Couric, of CBS Evening News.
While I cannot personally attest to their motivations and rationalizations for neglecting to present Darwish’s point of view to the American public, I can speculate, based on their specious choices of feminine media darlings. Actress Scarlett Johansen is a recent example. In an interview posted on Contactmusic.com, Johansen provided some clarifying insight as to the pressing issues of modern feminism:
"We are supposed to be liberated in America but if our President had his way, we wouldn't be educated about sex at all. Every woman would have six children and we wouldn't be able to have abortions."
Did I miss something? Has birth control – natural or artificial -- suddenly been outlawed in the United States? And if what Johansen claims is true, how is it possible that the typical American family consists of two children?
As ridiculous as Johansen’s statement is, it is sadly reflective of the misguided agenda of so-called women’s rights champions. I recently opined about Ms. Magazine’s appalling “We had abortions” campaign, a dubious endeavor that might possibly have caused the pro-family, pro-female feminist pioneer, Susan B. Anthony to turn over in her grave. Where is the feminist outrage over female genital mutilation in Islamic culture? Why aren’t the Jane Fonda’s and Kim Gandy’s of the world leading the charge against the Saudi Arabian government for sentencing a gang rape victim to 90 lashes for the “offense” of riding in a car alone with a man to whom she was not married?
And, relevant to Nonie Darwish, where was the feminist outrage when Brown University trampled upon her right to free speech? Darwish had been invited by a campus Jewish group, Hillel, to enlighten Brown University students about the sick hatred and extremism she grew to despise and ultimately reject in her own culture. In a cave-in to campus Muslim groups claiming she was “too controversial,” Brown University denied her a platform and cancelled the event. Even the University’s women’s center, a co-sponsor of the lecture, agreed to the decision. Interestingly enough, no one took offense to Brown’s unabashedly anti-Israel “Palestinian Solidarity Week.” I suppose the right to free speech is contingent upon having the right “agenda.” For American feminists, it appears the right to murder unborn babies and uphold the tenets of political correctness trump all other considerations.
How pathetic.
No thanks to modern day feminists but with deep gratitude for the courage and conviction of women like Nonie Darwish, Americans and all freedom-loving people across the globe have been given an opportunity and a warning to put all of their self-destructive hypersensitivity and political-correctness aside and fight for their culture and survival. The only way to truly comprehend and ultimately defeat the determined enemy that actively and daily plots our destruction is to listen to those who know whereof they speak.
Coming from a Middle-Eastern woman with personal experience of the bloody consequences of abject hatred and fanaticism, it is advice and advocacy well-heeded. Those who ignore or reject her do so at their own peril, whether everyday citizens, mainstream media mavens, so-called feminists or even Washington D.C. politicians. Wake up America and the free world, before it is too late.
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