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As for the Torah, there’s no Arabic translation of the Torah done by Muslims yet.

In the 90s, Israel had around 35 Arabic-Islamic research centers that studied the
world from Morocco to Tashkent.

This is what makes me feel frustrated at this age!

Which is knowing what will happen in the future!

This long-time negligence will lead to severe consequences!

I've always told my students that this temple will rise on the ruins of Al-Aqsa
Mosque.

This is the Jewish inevitability of the Torah. Arabs should understand this!

Politicians should understand this! There is a missing part of the Jewish

legislation!

Translated by Latifa Alharbi.

Hello!

This is Finjan from thmanyah,

and I am Abdulrahman Abumalih.

The Jewish people! Who are they?

How do they perceive us as Muslims?

What do they believe in? And what is their relation to Muslims?

How did we differ from each other before the occupation of Palestine?

There are thousands of research projects on Arabs in Israel.

Why do we have a few research centers dedicated to studying the Jewish people and
Israel?

My guest, Faouzi Bedoui, says

when Arabs wanted to understand Judaism after 1967,

they relied on the Islamic-Jewish conflict of the Middle Ages.

But Arabs missed the radical differences between the Middle Ages Judaism and 1967
Israel.

This episode is about the Jewish people as they perceive themselves.

From the beginning of Judaism until the occupation of Palestine.

Why did they choose Palestine over all other lands?

How did Zionism start?

What is the secret behind their religious awakening after the 1967 war?
Many questions were asked, and my guest gave thorough and fulfilling answers.

In this episode, you’ll discover Israel has no constitution and boundaries!

And that Zionism originated from Christianity.

And that it started as an irreligious country,

but now, it represents the ultimate nationalist-religious culture!

In this episode, my guest is Faouzi Bedoui,

a professor of Hebrew studies and the head of the Comparative Religions Department

in the Literature, Art, and Humanities Faculty in Tunis.

He says that to understand Zionism, Arabs must read it scientifically.

If not understood, it will threaten their very existence!

Before we start,

We have a previous interesting episode that compliments this one

on the Jewish relation to the Western civilization with Dr. Saad Albazei,

which will be linked in the description.

Now, let’s start!

How far do you understand the Saudi colloquial?

It’s pretty clear, but my problem is with the Bengal accent (referring to a pidgin
accent).

You don’t understand the pidgin language!

I can’t understand their English, nor can I figure out which language they’re
using!

But, overall, there is no difficulty.

The Tunisian dialect originated from the Hijaz.

A word can be commonly used in Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria but share one origin!

For example, the word bread.

We say bread, but in northern Tunisia, they say kesra (literally translated as a
piece of stale bread).

Kesra!

Reading Al-Jahiz, you’ll find the word ‘kesra’ referring to bread.

So, they are all Arabic words, but one is used somewhere more than others.

So, it isn’t a challenge!

What makes me wonder…
Actually, we were talking about this last week.

That the Libyan dialect is so close to the Arabic peninsula dialects.

So does the Tunisian dialect!

It is a bit...

If you spoke colloquial Tunisian, I wouldn’t be able to understand you!

In some cases!

-The Moroccan dialect too!

-Yes, things change when it comes to Moroccan.

But Libya is three parts.

There’s Benghazi, which is adjacent to Egypt, and its dialect is influenced by the
Egyptian dialect.

But the Tripolitan, western Libya, and Tunisian dialects are almost similar.

Are they?

But in southern Libya, there is the Fezzan dialect.

We are famous for the word ‫ يعيشك‬/Yaeishak/ (a Tunisian expression of gratitude

meaning may you be granted a longer life).

I once was at Muhammad V University in Rabat, and I was chatting with a Moroccan
friend.

We passed by a lecture room where a Moroccan instructor was teaching.

I said (Yaeishak) to my friend,

and the Moroccan teacher came out, asking where the Tunisian was!

-So, it’s a Tunisian trait!

-It is!

I’m surrounded by two angels here!

[You’re not alone!]

May Allah be of your assistance!

The Jewish topic is one we always wanted to discuss.

In Finjan, we’ve discussed it several times.

We want to clarify what people misunderstood due to a lack of sufficient context.

Geographical, conceptual, and religious topics!

We’ve discussed Sudan, thinking that Arabs are fully aware of one another!

But it turned out it made us know Sudan way better than we did before!
We’ve discussed Somalia and other countries, also, regions within Saudi.

We have an amazing episode about the Asir region.

I believe that discussing such topics is always beneficial for people!

So are the Judaism and Israel topics, which we always wanted to discuss and find
someone interested in sharing insights about.

But apparently, Arabs are a bit skeptical about it!

This makes it a great opportunity to discuss it thoroughly!

What was your motivation for studying Judaism?

It is a peculiar interest that started before you specialized, as you said!

-Are we recording yet?

-Yes!

My interest in Hebrew studies started from where I lived.

I was born in a Jewish neighborhood in a city called Ariana.

It is known for its Jewish community.

There is a Tunisian proverb common among the Jewish people.

Which is: If Ariana had a sea, none would their graves see.

Because they loved this city!

I grew up around them since my mother was from Ariana.

So, I was curious at first, but this simple curiosity changed when I was in high
school.

My father was a Zitouni (a graduate of Ez-Zitouna University).

He was very interested in Middle Eastern matters.

He was a Nasseri (Nasserism), as many people of his generation were.

So, I got my initial political and Middle Eastern education from him.

This interest crystallized when I studied in higher education school,

where we focused on Islamic and Arabic world issues.

So, my simple curiosity changed into an academic one.

So instead of being a receiver of knowledge, I became the one who controlled this
desire.

I wrote my first article about the Arab-Israel conflict in high school.

Later, in university, my interest was established.

My peers used to know it and made jokes about this friend who was interested in
Jewish matters.

They used to call me by a Jewish nickname.

After my BA studies, I finished my postgraduate degree.

Then, I moved to Paris.

I studied modern Hebrew at the Institute for Oriental Languages in Paris.

At the same time, I was getting an education from the Catholic Institute in Paris.

Because I needed to learn Old Hebrew and other languages

like Syriac and Aramaic, which weren't available at the oriental languages
institute.

It was a requirement for my Ph.D. thesis,

which was about the Islamic-Jewish relations/controversy in the Middle Ages.

So, this career was forming little by little.

I returned to Tunisia while I had the opportunity to stay in Paris.

I actually went back in the week I got a job.

I had two reasons.

My first reason was my unimaginable love for my father.

I’m his firstborn son, and I feared he’d grow older without me by his side.

I even lived next door to my father, a few meters apart.

My second reason was this question: what would I add to the French?

The answer was: nothing!

France has its own centuries-established traditions regarding Hebrew and Jewish
studies.

And an abundance of specialists.

So who needed me most? My country!

So, I returned to Tunisia, intending to establish a Jewish studies center in Tunis.

Excellent!

A research center!

I taught simple Jewish studies courses at Ez-Zitouna University, so I taught

religious matters.

And gave history courses.

Also, linguistic courses because Hebrew and Arabic are closely related languages.
I felt how much students needed sources and references.

The Tunisian and Arab students can’t find reliable sources in this field.

-Which field?
-Jewish Studies.

I will explain the type of texts an Arab citizen has access to shortly.

As for academic students, almost none!

If there are any, they are very few and rare sources.

So, I thought of establishing a Jewish studies center,

but the political climate in the Arab world wouldn’t allow it.

I knew that and thought it shouldn’t be named ‘Jewish Studies Center’ but ‘Semitic
Studies Center’ instead.

Excellent!

With the sole purpose of creating a library!

My goal was to create a scientific library that would provide the best productions
in the world.

American, French, European, Chinese, and Israeli productions to educate our

students.

The other goal was to start a translation program besides teaching the language.

Because we nearly knew nothing about Judaism and Israel except for a few texts, and
I will list them.

So, the student who wants to major in Jewish studies wouldn’t find a Jewish text
translated into Arabic.

There is no translation of the Talmud, for example.

-Into Arabic!
-Yes.

I will explain the few recent translations in this regard.

-At that time, there was no translation of…

-Which time are you referring to?

When was this?

Around 1994 and 1995.

There’s no Talmud in Arabic!

Later, there was a Jordanian translation.

But the Jordanian copy had many issues known to specialists.

The title is misleading because it isn’t a complete translation of the Talmud but a
translation of the Mishnah script.

Later, there was an Egyptian translation of parts of the Mishnah.

-Anyway, the Talmud as a whole...

-Isn’t translated!

The Talmud is a group of various texts era-wise, which requires an institutional

effort to be translated.

As for the Torah, there’s no Arabic translation of the Torah done by Muslims yet.

Who did it?

The translations we know now were done by missionaries in the 19th century.

The sole reliable Arabic translation was done by the Dutch orientalist Van Dyke,
and used in Catholic translations.

Other translations in the Egyptian Coptic churches

were done according to the Orthodox Church.

But an Arabic Muslim translation of the Torah hasn’t happened yet.

The oldest Arabic Torah translation, with all five chapters, was done by rabbi
Saadia Al-Fayyumi.

He was a prominent rabbi in Egypt and was a head of an academy in Iraq.

He was called Saadia Gaon in the third Hijra century.

This is an example.

Would it make a difference if it was translated by an Arab and a Muslim?

Of course, it would. Religiously and ideologically.

For example, Arabic Christian texts refer to the divinity as God.

The divinity concept differs.

The Christian, Jewish, and Arabic divinity concepts differ from each other.

In the Hebrew translation of the Quran,

one of the issues was translating Al-Aqsa Mosque into the ‘temple’.

It is something known to specialists.

An example of the difference is when you tackle Judaism,

you must mention Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, the Cordoban.

This man is the most prominent jurist of the Jewish since the Middle Ages.

He was introduced to Arabs by the book The Guide of the Perplexed,

which was revised by the Turkish Hussein Atai.

A stolen copy was published later in Egypt.

He is known to the Jewish as The Great Eagle.

There are hospitals in Israel named after him.

The Jewish say [speaks in Hebrew]

Meaning: between the prophet Moses and this Moses, there was no such a Moses.

His jurisprudence texts, such as Mishneh Torah, aren’t translated into Arabic.

Recently, there was a translated booklet of Mishneh Torah.

And this is only one type of text, let alone literature, poetry, or exegesis!

We have a huge shortage in the Arab world, which is attributed to historical

reasons.

But it shouldn't stay this way!

From building improvement through the elegant design, luxurious facilities, and
unique location.

Innovative and sustainable residential solutions by Safa Investments.

More in the episode's description.

What is the importance of understanding the Jewish by the Arabs?

There are two answers.

One, it is a continuation of our ancestors' traditions.

The interest in the other and the other’s faith is as old as our history.

We created the best texts in the Middle Ages, such as Al-Shahrastani’s Book of
Sects and Creeds.

And Ibn Hazm’s Al-Fisal book and Biruni’s India book.

These scholars produced advanced literature that introduced Arabs to other

religions.

We were required to learn about parts of these religions regarding the Dhimmi
(people of the covenant).

I will give you a simple example.

For example, one of the Abbasid caliphs was returning to Iraq from pilgrimage.

But he found people (of certain faith) bathing in the Tigris-Euphrates river.

He asked what faith did they believe in but got no clear answer.

Turned out they were Sabians, who were mentioned in Quran.

Muslims were skeptical about classifying them as People of the Book.

If they were People of the Book, they must be treated as Dhimmis.

There was a controversy about their classification and a misunderstanding,

which is attributed to Ibn Al-Nadim’s book Al-Fihrist.

He confused two types of Sabians.

The Sabians, who were mentioned in Quran, had a Judeo-Christian faith.

They are called the Bata’eh Sabians, who were known to Jesus.

There were the Harran pagan Sabians who worshipped planets and stars.

This misled jurists and confused their classification,

especially with the expansion of the Islamic Empire.

They had to deal with religious, racial, and language minorities.

The Islamic civilization handled this matter until the Ottoman Empire collapsed

with the Dhimmi and Millet system, which relied on the Hanafi jurisprudence.

There was an intellectual need and a continuation of our ancestors' tradition.

But our ancestors’ knowledge will expire with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire
and the beginning of the modern world.

One of our flaws in understanding other religions

is repeating our ancestors’ knowledge of the Middle Ages.

Which is a mistaken approach by Arabs and Muslims in their way of understanding the
modern world.

And we will discuss the proper methods of getting to know the other.

In the past, these religions were perceived in two ways.

The first approach was defensive. Defending faiths and defending Islam, as Ibn
Khaldun said.

It seeks to prove the superiority of Islam over other faiths.

It is called L'apologie or the defense.

While the other way is the ‘polémique’ approach, the controversial one.

The binary Middle Ages approach: the defensive and controversial ways.

But in the modern studies of religions, these approaches were dropped

because they don’t fit into modern religious studies terms.

So, Muslims should adhere to this 19th-century shift and perceive the religious
discourse differently.

Did the Christian faith studies by Arabs stop? Or is it just with Judaism?
We are talking about Arabic-Islamic studies! Because there are Christian Arabs.

The Arabic-Muslim studies stopped with all religions.

The Arab world decadence was inclusive.

It didn’t overlook Christianity and studied Judaism.

It is an inclusive matter.

If there is weak Islamic knowledge of Christianity and Judaism,

there is a stronger ignorance of the Asian, Indian, and Latin religions.

This needs to change!

I wanted to establish the center to fill this longstanding gap!

I've always remembered Ibn Hazm's words in his book A Response to the Jewish Ibn
Al-Nagrila.

“Oh, Allah! I appeal to you for the indulgence of the people of the kingdoms

in building their soon-to-be-left mansions, and in collecting riches that would

empower their enemies

neglecting the faith that granted them honor”

He’s been asking us, centuries ago, to pour effort into this matter.

So, I wanted to establish the center to create a library and recruit translators to
fill the gap.

But I faced a political predicament. The political facilitation wasn't in my hands!

I wrote a famous cautionary article in 1992 in a Tunisian newspaper.

I asked for the establishment of a Polytechnique for religious studies.

I will get back to the center.

This cautionary article was published in 1992.

In that year, the presidency transferred from Habib Bourguiba to Zine El Abidine
Ben Ali, and there was a religious conflict.

Which is a reoccurring unresolved religious conflict in Tunisia every twenty years.

Tunisia had its periodic crises and will continue to suffer every couple of
decades.

The reason is this religious conflict.

So, through this article, I asked the country concerned about making good
engineers, physicians, and businessmen

to consider creating good religious institutions that operate according to the

modern scientific method.
Because we can create good factories and achieve huge investments

that will collapse in twenty years, which did happen.

Because the republican system failed to understand that it must create religious
institutions, like France.

In France, there is a still-standing Catholic institute.

The French Republic system created Le Collège de France and the Semitic religions
and language institutions.

These religious institutions will support the republic during crises.

At that time, religious matters were security issues, even in neighboring

countries.

But they forgot that security measures can stop terrorism and violence

but can’t control religious ideologies.

Religious ideologies need a few generations time to be repaired.

It would take a long battle for the Arab world to emerge from certain ideological
frames.

Upon my quest, I was directed to someone who used to work in Bourguiba's time in
the United Nations.

I thought this prominent person would help me and preside over the center.

My aim wasn’t the position, but it was bringing this project to life.

I thought it would be a guarantee of success.

But I read an article in a newspaper a couple of days after meeting with him.

Saying: we learned that a Tunisian professor wants to create a Jewish studies

center to normalize with Israel.

I understood the message of the article.

So, I shredded all that project’s papers and let go of this idea since then.

I turned to academic teaching.

I poured my effort into educating my students.

And established, with the help of friends, a department of religions

which studies Christianity, Judaism, and so on.

Hoping that time will achieve what I couldn’t achieve and still can’t.

Because things turned out against my expectations.

And I've been occupied by day-to-day life, which took me from scholarly work.
We work under difficult conditions.

Even if we were academic professors, there are limitations.

I’m approaching my retirement age

and I don’t think I’ve created more than 4% of what I imagined I would achieve.

Only if there were different conditions, contexts, will, and potential.

So, years ago, I turned into the virtual world, such as this platform.

Hoping that my voice will travel further than the lecture walls

and be heard by the Arab and Islamic countries that understand such needs.

The need to tackle such matters with new approaches.

I believe that the political and social stability of the Arab world

will only rely on resolving the religious conflict.

I’ve written a lot about this matter and lectured on it.

I believe the Arab world is prone to disruption if these 200 years old religious
matters aren't addressed.

This shortfall caused us to miss the industrial revolution, the Digital Revolution,
and most probably the AI Revolution.

Because we are still standing at square one, which is rearranging our relationship
with religion.

Not opposing religion! I don’t want to be misunderstood!

Religion was, is, and will still be there.

What the Arab world needs is to repair the relationship with religion.

From what I see, the addressed religious matters are the surface issues such as
violence.

But it is deeper than that!

-Such as?
-The perception!

How the Arab citizens perceive religious matters.

An individual issue is about morality and societal living.

But the collective religious issues are political at the core!

Therefore, it will keep reoccurring.

The Arab world must have, at least academically,

universities and institutions that tackle this issue with the modern religious
science approach.
Which advises, creates, and alters the perception of the Arab citizens of all
religions.

Since my childhood interest was Jewish studies, I took this path.

And I believe I can address the major weaknesses of such matters.

You said the Arabic citizen is a victim of several mistakes in understanding

Judaism.

And that in the 60s, politics contributed to misinforming the Arab citizens about
Judaism.

I would like to know the mistakes and how did politics misinform the Arab citizen?

The first and most obvious mistake is leaning on ancient knowledge!

What would the Arab citizens find if they wanted to educate themselves?

There will only be Ibn Hazm’s book, parts of the Biruni’s book, or the
Shahrastani’s!

Which already had several limitations I will address shortly.

As I said, they were done with two approaches: defense and controversy.

The other issue is the shortage of Judaism books in the Arab market.

Except for a few important titles.

The Arab citizen has access to three or four books.

For example, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,

which is a bestseller that sold huge numbers of the Arabic edition.

Translated by Khalifa Al-Tunisi.

Another famous book is Blood Libel (the Arabic title translates to The Zion Pie).

Another book is The Hidden Treasures of the Talmud Rules (literally translated),
which has no relation to the Talmud.

And such books!

I used to find Adolf Hitler’s book, My Struggle, on the side of the roads of Tunis.

What is the knowledge such books provide the Arab citizen with?

Nothing!

These books introduce an ideology called Antisemitism.

I will explain the dangers of this.

The Zion Pie book discusses the Blood Libel,

published by someone called Kilani.

A famous Syrian former minister of defense, Mustafa Tlass

wrote a book about this as a Ph.D. thesis in Paris but was rejected.

I will discuss the other books, but I will talk about this one first.

The Zion Pie discusses an accusation against the Jewish people,

which claims they need blood to be mixed with the dough of the Passover.

This accusation originated from Middle Ages Christianity

which contributed to the Jewish-Christian feud,

which is a conflict of faith.

It isn’t the same as the Islamic-Jewish conflict, which I will explain.

Their feud is in faith because Christians believe that the Jewish killed Jesus.

And that Judas Iscariot sold him after the last supper to the Roman forces, which
led to his crucifixion.

Anyway, it is a feud of faiths that lasted until the modern days.

This is one of its manifestations,

that the Jewish mix dough with blood, the same as they killed Jesus.

But such a thing is never known to us!

Have you ever heard of such a thing?

No!

For example, the only event in our history was the accusation against the Jewish
for killing the Prophet.

In the poisoned sheep Hadith.

And that the Companion who shared the Prophet in eating it was Albara bin Marur.

By the way, he was the only one who didn’t want the Qibla to change.

He ate with the Prophet and died because of it.

While the Prophet was sick, Albara bin Marur’s sister visited him

and he told her: I feel as if my aorta is being cut from the food I ate with your
brother at Khaibar.

Al-Tabari commented that Muslims think the Prophet died as a martyr alongside his
blessing of prophecy.

Imagine if Muslims took this claim and accused the Jewish of killing the Prophet

as the Christians accused them of killing Jesus.

We know that our ancestors didn’t take such an approach.

The controversy over the Prophet’s infallibility lasted until the 7th century,

and it’s mentioned in Al-Razi’s book Keys to the Unknown.

He said that Muslims agreed on the infallibility of the Prophet regarding the
revelation,

but he was not immune in his body.

His teeth were broken, and he was injured in battles and got sick.

And was bewitched by the Jewish Labeed ibn Al-Asam, which was denied by the
Mu'tazilah.

Anyway, it is a controversy.

Muslims never believed that the Prophet was murdered.

So, we have no feud with the Jewish such as the one Christians have.

So, this book, Zion Pie, represents an accusation that appeared around 1830,

in Damascus,

and was fabricated by the French consul.

Because Syria was going to be under the French Mandate in 1922.

This matter is explained in detail in books anyway.

So, it is like importing an antisemitism accusation into a non-antisemitic

civilization!

This must be clarified.

There is anti-Judaism and antisemitism,

which are becoming synonymous for historical reasons.

The Jewish made a huge effort to establish this idea in the Western mindset.

Especially after the Nazi holocaust.

The world overlooked the fact that Arabs are Semitic too.

It is a complicated topic, and it will be discussed thoroughly later.

There has been talk about antisemitism against Islam.

Such as in Bernard Lewis's book The Jews of Islam.

As well as a woman specialist in this.

Her pen name is Bat Ye’or.

She is an Egyptian Jewish woman, and her real name is Gisèle Littman.

She left Egypt, lived in Switzerland, and married a Jewish American orientalist.
She talked about what she called Eurabia, which refers to Europe.

And many other books claim that Muslim antisemitism is rooted in history.

And that the first anti-semite was the Prophet PBUH!

And many held this belief.

There is an American person known for it. I’ll try to remember his name.

He was in charge of something called Campus Watch.

In America, a university monitoring system kept an eye on Arab professors or the

pro-Arab who defended the Palestine cause.

Especially in Middle Eastern studies centers.

Anyone can look up the Campus Watch and will find out how it made Edward Said
suffer.

Their mission was to detect any anti-Jewish, anti-Zionism, or anti-Israel behavior

in universities.

And there is a new 'Mas-Yahudi' (Arabic blending) Jewish-Christianity ideology.

-Do you mean by ‘Mas-Yahudi’…

-It is blending two words in the Arabic language.

I found another translation, but I didn’t want to come up with a new word to avoid
confusion.

Saying Mas-Yahudi means Jewish-Christianity.

There was an old Jewish-Christianity related to early Islam,

and a modern Jewish-Christianity which consists of Zionist Christians and Anti-

Arab/Muslims

scattered all over the Western world in the US.

Which poured great efforts into opposing the Palestine cause and Arab and Muslims.

It created this discourse of accusing the Arabs of antisemitism and that it is

rooted in their history.

I will provide the listener with one of their false claims.

Which, unfortunately, was celebrated by the ignorant Arabs.

They claim that the Prophet was the first anti-semite because he slaughtered 900
Jewish people of Bani Quraizah

in the so-called event of the massacre of Bani Quraizah.

Their sources said they were either 700 or 900 people of Bani Quraizah slaughtered.

And they claimed that violence and murder are the very nature of Muslims because
their Prophet did it!
Hitler could do this because of his advanced methods.

But on that time scale!

Those people missed the fact that this alleged incident was narrated by reverts.

Reverts (guided back) means the Jewish who became Muslims.

A disbeliever converts to Islam, but a Jewish or Christian reverts to Islam!

If this reverts narrative was fact-checked in a historical context,

we’ll find that they confused two occurrences

one of which is rooted in the ancient Jewish subconscious.

It is the Masada event!

It is about a group of Jewish people who took shelter in a fortress in Palestine

and were sieged by the Roman forces.

But they preferred to kill themselves over surrendering to the unbeatable Roman
military.

So, these two narratives portray the Jewish reaction as a heroic death.

Women were dressed beautifully, and men preferred death over a life without a loved
one.

So, they were heading for death proudly!

This is an echo of the Masada event.

A few of those were murdered in that time’s battles scale.

This had to be mentioned.

And by the way, the Masada fortress is still in Israel, Occupied Palestine.

It is the fortress where some graduates of Israeli military academies get their
ranks and medals.

And where they swear none of what happened to their ancestors in Masada will happen
to Israel.

The second thing is that Medina (Yathrib) wasn't as populated as modern cities.

If there were 900 people murdered, there would be unimaginable sanitary issues and
diseases!

What’s more dangerous

that if such a claim did actually happen

As we know, the Prophet is a role model for Muslims in words and actions.

If such a thing had happened, it would’ve survived in our history and Jihad books.
And Muslims would’ve followed its example and dealt with the Jewish accordingly!

The Jewish could’ve faced a lot worse with Muslims than they suffered from the
Christians!

Listeners must know there were only two simple antagonistic occurrences with the
Jewish in Islamic history.

The first one was in the reign of the Fatimid caliph AlHakim bi-Amr Allah who was a
lunatic.

He did a lot worse to Muslims, burned Cairo, and ordered people to wake up at night
and sleep during the day!

He was like the Roman Nero!

While the second occurrence was during the Almohad caliphate.

And never in our history has been hostility against the Jewish like Europe’s with
its pogroms!

The last one was the Kishinev pogrom in Eastern Europe.

There is a lot of evidence against the Muslim antisemitism claim by the Zionist
mediums.

Which is held by the ignorant Arabs as a source of pride!

By accepting such narratives, they accept the Islamic antisemitism accusation

proudly!

Some go further than pride and deny the Nazi Holocaust, which is extremely
dangerous!

Arabs shouldn’t deny the Nazi holocaust.

This is what prominent Arab intellectuals and Edward Said warned about at a Beirut
conference.

Accepting or sympathizing with the holocaust that happened to Jewish and non-Jewish
isn’t right.

Acknowledging it will make the world recognize the Arab Nakba (disaster), the
modern holocaust of Arabs and Palestinians.

This was excellently explained by Dr. Gilbert Achcar in his book in this regard!

Anyway, many parts of our history need revision by specialists to enlighten the
Arab world.

So they don’t follow this emotional approach that would lead us to react
improperly.

For example, many Arabs protected and sheltered Jewish people from the Nazi regime.

In Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt.

But Arabs know nothing about them.

The Jewish know of them!

In the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, there are names of those people!

In the Jewish jurisprudence, they believe that they are the most righteous nation.

But there could be a few good people from other nations.

They are called [speaks in Hebrew]

This means good people from other nations.

There are Tunisian, Algerian, and Moroccan people among them.

So, we must keep in mind that our disputes with the Jewish aren’t about the creed.

The book ‘The Hidden Treasures of the Talmud Rules’ was written by a Nazi doctor!

And it has nothing to do with Talmud, but it is an anti-Talmud publication of

literature.

Historically, Christianity did burn the Talmud in history!

Although the current Talmud appeared by a Christian

in the 15th century at the beginning of the Renaissance.

The other book, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was done by Cesarean
Intelligence, as experts know.

I am not even mentioning My Struggle.

So, will such knowledge help the Arab citizens understand Judaism, Israel, and
their reactions?

Never!

In the 60s, the military dispute with Israel

didn’t motivate the systems to establish centers of Jewish studies.

When did this trauma sink in? After the 1967 defeat!

Some Egyptian military and intelligence people said

Abdel Nasser visited Egyptian Intelligence headquarters after 67 to see the Israeli
generals' faces.

And there were translation efforts in the Arab League,

which activated Hebrew language departments!

There was an attempt to establish a scientific perception.

The problem was most of these efforts by Egyptian, Iraqis, and Syrians

were utilized in the intelligence and security sectors.

The academic system didn’t benefit from it.

Besides, such departments were seen as a fifth column!

And they were marginalized by the academic establishment.

Dr. Rashad Al-Shami died in sorrow because he couldn’t establish a Jewish and
Israeli studies center.

Anyway, in the Arab world, there are only three centers!

Although the conflict started in 1948, there were only three centers, and one
faded!

Which is the Palestine Research Centre in Beirut, and it was led by Yazid Sayigh.

He had a tense relationship with President Arafat for a long time.

When Beirut was invaded, Ariel Sharon took most of the center’s contents to Israel,

while the rest were taken to storage in Algeria.

So, the Research Center ended,

and gave us the best experts in Jewish and Israeli matters

Some of them are still notable in the field.

We have the Madar Center in Ramallah, a private research institution,

and Alzaytouna Center in Gaza,

and the Palestine Research Centre between Beirut and the US.

These are all we got!

-Just these?
-Just them.

It is part of the interests of the Ahram Center of Strategic Studies.

But it doesn’t live up!

I have old statistics, and I’ve mentioned this several times.

In the 90s, Israel had around 35 Arabic-Islamic research centers that studied the
world from Morocco to Tashkent.

Some belong to the Ministry of foreign affairs, and others to universities.

I did research on Arabic-Islamic studies in the eight Israeli universities.

Some of them are conducted by the Israel Ministry of Defense.

How about today?

There is an absolute disproportion between the Israeli efforts to understand the

Arab world.

I’m not even talking about Islamic studies.

If I did, you’d be left in awe!

The best studies regarding Islam…

Saying ‘best’ means thorough research in the Arab world that combines history,
literature, and history.

In fact, I’m about to translate an Israeli book about Medina (Yathrib), which they
have many studies about.

The best productions are from the American Princeton, the British Oxford, and the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The latter was established before Israel’s occupation in 1925.

The academic project was there before the state was created!

And many magazines like the Journal of Asian and African Studies from Oxford,

and the Journal of Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam.

Naturally, I keep up with Israeli publications.

I used to write in an Omani newspaper a monthly report on Israeli productions about

the Arab world.

Comparing both cases, they aren’t consistent!

Although there are security, scientific, political, and economic motives!

With financial and specialist potential!

It’s like Ibn Hazm’s words are never heard!

This is what makes me frustrated at this age!

Which is knowing what will happen in the future!

This long-time negligence will lead to severe consequences!

Severe political, military, and religious consequences.

The best example is what we see today in the Arab world, which is the normalization
with Israel.

It may have political justification, but it overlooked the religious, cultural, and
academic aspects.

They don’t know the essence of the Zion project that started with Theodor Herzl
until today

alongside the Abraham Accords, which I talked about its religious danger

that will lead to severe consequences.

We will discuss it later, but now…

We discussed some of the contexts of our understanding of the Jewish,

and I would like to know their perception.

But before that, you said that

we are facing a nation that wrote its own history.

Didn’t all nations write their own history?

How come you specified them?

It is a reasonable question, but I wanted to explain a small difference.

If you open the Encyclopaedia of Islam, which holds the Islamic culture and
literature,

Who wrote it?

You’d find writings from all over the world!

The Chinese, French, German, English, Tunisian, and the Indians wrote it!

But open the Encyclopaedia of Judaism, and you will only find Jewish people's
writings!

You won’t find a non-Jewish person’s writing!

This is a simple modern model.

But what I said was about the Torah specifically.

The history of ancient Bani Israel,

so we don’t confuse Israelis with Bani Israel,

and the history of Hebrews is in the Torah.

But the Torah is a Jewish text that presents the Jewish own narrative of their
history.

Until recently, we could only access Jewish history through the Jewish themselves.

The Assyrian annals and the ancient Egyptian texts were discovered lately.

But for a long time, even the expression Semitic

was known to German scholars through the Torah texts.

So, our window to Jewish history is written by Jewish hands.

When I said this, I wanted to clarify an important point.

It applies to Arabic Islamic studies, but some overlook that it applies to Jewish
studies and history.

Saying that they wrote their own history, I meant they wrote what they wanted to
believe had happened,

or what they thought had happened

or wanted to believe that it had happened,

or wanted other people or future generations to believe it had happened.

The Torah presents a Jewish narrative written by Jewish people about Israel's
history.

We all know that writing differs from recording.

Writing is done by hand, but records are kept in memory

which is forgetful and selective of one narrative over another.

The Torah is a record of the Jewish history.

The recording process is deceiving in all languages and nations, which applies to
Muslims too.

But reading the Torah, we must remember that it is a Jewish narrative written by
Jewish people

about what they thought had happened

or wanted to believe had happened or thought it to be thought had happened by

others.

Because recording is different from writing.

Recording relies on memory, which is forgetful and selective.

This is what I meant

to alert anyone interested in Jewish history that they are reading a narrative.

A narrative that survived, among other narratives.

The archaeological study of Jewish history indicated that the Torah's history is
sacred, not professional!

What’s the difference?

Sacred history is written for religious and theological purposes.

To defend a certain religious perception.

For example, the crossing and parting of the sea and other events in the Torah
texts.

The modern archaeological studies on the old testament have other different
explanations.

Which negates many Torah narratives.

-But we have it in the Islamic narrative!

-Of course, but this is another subject.

I wrote an article titled: Why Muslims Fear Historical Criticism?

In which I tackled this subject.

Through my reading of Jewish texts and Christian culture,

I found that Muslims rejoice at the criticism of the Torah and Jewish history.

They are satisfied by the fact that Torah is altered.

It is the same regarding Christianity.

The fact that Torah and Bible were altered is celebrated.

But when these approaches are applied to Muslim history,

they stop, fear, and worry!

It has been like this for two centuries!

But the alteration of the Torah is mentioned in the Quran.

Which makes this idea acceptable.

As for Hadith, the approaches were strict on tracing its validity,

but it could be debated.

But the Quran was promised to be preserved.

So, it couldn’t be treated the same!

This is our disagreement point, but this is the forbidden zone

that needs calmness and eloquence, as Al-Jahiz said.

We’ll discuss the alteration topic.

The alteration you referred to was taken in the late stages of Islamic history.

In the first and second centuries, for a longer period, it was debatable.

But what you mentioned is what remained in the Islamic perception.

For example, the Quran mentioned…

I will further explain this matter because I want the listener to be convinced of
the reasonability of what I will say.

Not the factuality, but the reasonability!

In this matter, the Quran uses five words to describe the Torah.

The word ‘distort’ in “who distort the Book with their tongues.”

The words: fabricated, altered, changed, and another one.

Five words are used by the Quran in this matter.

Is the alteration meant for the manner of the words?

My answer: no!
Looking at what the Muslims wrote throughout history,

we will find that saying alteration was done to words is a marginal idea.

The most known person to defend this idea is Ibn Hazm in his Al-Fisal book.

He wrote the book to explain that the alteration of the Torah was done to words.

He said the alteration was definitive because it was found in five texts, then two,
then one text.

The text is called Haazinu, and it is known to specialists.

But compared to the current texts, there’s not much difference.

He was met with objections by his peers, Al-Andalus scholars, and the Maliki
scholars led by Judge Al-Jayyani.

He called what Ibn Hazm did: the predicament.

He said to Ibn Hazm, “You have put yourself in an inescapable predicament.”

Because in order to prove the alteration, you must have the original text to
compare it with.

Which cannot be done, so he put himself in a predicament.

There is another intellectual person who leads an ideology, Ibn Khaldun.

He said in a famous text, “A nation wouldn’t have its descent book altered.”

So, logically, a nation that believes its book is sacred wouldn’t mess with it!

A nation wouldn’t have its descent book altered unless it was due to negligence or
lack of maintenance.

Which is writing errors and such reoccurring mistakes in all books.

There is a large study in the Jewish tradition called the Thirteen Scribes Errors,

which was known and discussed by Ibn Hazm.

When a person specializes in such matters,

he understands the debatable nature of the common perceptions.

We spoke about the Jewish people, and I would like to further discuss their modern
culture.

But before this, I would like to establish some information.

Who are the Jewish people?

There are three classifications.

Hebrews, Banu Israel, and Jewish, and they all are different from each other.

Three different types?

The specialist must understand the difference.

The Hebrews have nothing to do with the Judaism of today.

Hebrews origin is a historical controversy.

Is it derived from ‘eber’ or ‘ever’ or so?

They were nomadic people.

Some want to associate them with Ibrahim’s journey.

While Banu Israel are the people who were in Egypt.

They are called Bani Israel in Hebrew.

As for the Jewish, as a term, it came with the captivity.

-With what?
-The Babylonian captivity.

We cannot talk about Judaism without mentioning the Babylonian captivity.

Because the forming of religion means forming institutions.

An appearance, rules, jurisprudence, institutions, and synagogue.

Whatever was before that was primitive.

But Judaism, as a religious institution, resembles the church of Christianity.

There became rules of lawful and unlawful.

It was all established during the diaspora.

It is perceived as a diaspora in the Jewish history.

For the Jewish, there were five diasporas and two temple destructions.

This must be clarified, Judaism started with the Babylonian captivity.

The Jewish and Judaism after this period is what we will discuss.

The Quran mentioned the Jewish in an indefinite manner several times,

and it was mentioned as definite terms a couple of times.

This must be clarified.

Traditional Judaism relies on a book, the Torah.

But, generally speaking,

the traditional Torah, which is taken by the majority of Jewish people today

It is known as the Masorah version, finalized by the Masorah scholars

according to Ibn Asher’s criticism school.

It continued for a thousand years AD, nearly nine centuries.

The Torah texts history is long.

It started from the eighth century BC to the second century AD.

It took a long time to form the final Torah known now to the Jewish.

It consists of 24 books,

or 22 books due to merging four books into two books

for a symbolic purpose which is having 22 books like the Hebrew 22 letters.

Five of them are the Sefer Torah.

As well as the eleven books of Prophets and the eight books of Writings.

So, the sum of 5, 11, and 8 is the number of the Torah books.

These books aren’t the Samaritan Torah, which consists of six books.

As well as the Greek Torah, which is written in the Greek language

and was translated during the Ptolemaic era and the Greek presence in Egypt after
Alexander.

And there is a Latin version called Vulgate.

Many versions, but the official version of traditional Jewish worship is the
Masorah Torah.

As well as another academic version, the Biblia Stuttgartensia

because it was created in Stuttgart city in Germany.

It is an edited version, and we may discuss the revision process.

Modern science attempted to create a scholarly version that originated historical

text criticism.

These were the main points about the Torah.

I would like to clarify something, which is the fact that Muslims don’t
differentiate between the Torah in Quran and the Jewish Torah.

Many refer to Quran’s Torah as the Jewish Torah.

So, the word Torah in Hebrew means either 22 books or 5 books, depending on the
context.

A Jewish could say Torah referring to the five books and can refer to the Torah in
its entirety.

To specify, they would say The Five Books Torah (Chumash).

Or Tanakh, Nevi’im, or Ketuvim (the writings).

Tanakh means 24 books, and Torah could refer to five books or all books.

Many Muslims refer to Torah by saying Book of Genesis, Book of Numbers, or Book of
Exodus.

But these titles are Greek, not from the Torah.

The Muslims acquired them from the Christian community.

Either through the Nestorians, the Christians of Baghdad.

or through modern translations.

Because the Jewish don’t use these terms, so they originated from translations.

By the way, there is no original Torah version.

Never!

This Torah is composed of many versions.

There are old versions, one of which was in Russia.

The oldest version, the Book Isaiah, was found in 1947 in the Qumran caves.

It belonged to the Emirate of Transjordan.

A shepherd followed his sheep, and one was lost in a cave.

So, he threw some rocks to get it out but heard an echo of the stone.

He found vessels, which are considered the greatest discovery of the modern age.

Because it provided the oldest texts of Jewish-Christianity and Torah texts.

He didn’t know its value so he sold them to antiquities traders.

But a British Jewish person called Solomon Schechter.

He knew its value, purchased them, and moved much of them to Britain and the US.

It was kept from the public until Bill Clinton's days,

but before that, it was restrictedly accessible to specialists.

The point is that there’s no original version of the Torah,

instead, it’s composed of many copies.

It is an area of research.
It must be clarified for the people interested in this field.

Judaism relies on this text and other things like the covenant.

‘The chosen people’ could be interpreted as superiority or humbleness.

The message was offered to skies and mountains, but they rejected it, so the Jewish
took it upon themselves.

Therefore, they are the chosen people.

As well as the Promised Land.

How did the ‘chosen people concept’ originate?

It started with the covenant of Israel’s God with Ibrahim.

Ibrahim’s journey out of Ur, nearby Shatt Al-Arab.

He went alone, then with his family, on a long journey.

On his journey, he was promised land, an abundance of offspring, and the chosen
descendants.

These three terms were restated many times.

With Ibrahim, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses.

Restating covenants, like renewing contracts.

These are the essential concepts.

The chosen people, and the covenant which is represented by circumcision.

The tradition of ancient Middle Eastern kings to stamp covenants with blood.

They cut themselves and sign them.

So, Circumcision is a remembrance of the covenant.

A cut in one’s body to remember.

It is called [speaks in Hebrew], but the uncircumcised is called (aghral) in

Arabic.

It is the covenant between Israel’s god with Israel.

The god of Israel was unknown to Israel by name until they were in Egypt, according
to Torah.

The Torah didn’t name the god before that, but instead, it said, “Yours and your
fathers' god.”

If he was asked about his name, he would say, “I am who I am.”

In Exodus, he said his name was Yahweh.

But it is unlawful to pronounce it for the Jewish.

Instead, they say Adonai (my lord).

But they never pronounce it because it's without diacritics.

Pronouncing it is considered a great sin.

And it would only be pronounced in the temple.

In a sacred place of the temple, said by (Kohen Gadol) the great priest.

And since there’s no temple, and it must be rebuilt,

a large part of Jewish legislation is hindered.

I've always told my students that this temple will rise on the ruins of Al-Aqsa
Mosque.

This is the Jewish inevitability of the Torah. Arabs should understand this!

Politicians should understand this!

The Jewish won’t stop unless this temple is built

because part of their legislation is hindered.

Unless this temple was rebuilt after the first and second destruction.

-It won’t be built unless...

-Naturally!

The Jewish narrative says the Aqsa Mosque was built on the temple’s ruins.

Every Sunday, there’s a search for the remaining evidence of it.

-What is the nature of this temple?

-It is the temple that Sulayman built.

Which is where the legislative court would be conducted,

or the Jewish Ministry of Justice.

Jurisprudential justice is hindered.

Judaism used other temporary forms of legislation.

But they wait for the rebuilding of the temple to resume the function of religious
institutions.

As for the land...

Before the land, what is the covenant?

As I said l, “I will give you an eternal land for you and your descendants,”

This covenant is with Isaac’s descendants, an eternal, unbreakable covenant.

So, according to the covenant, they were promised the land.

Which land?

This land wasn’t specified when Ibrahim started the journey,

he was promised to be shown the land later.

According to the Torah, this land will be foreign to Ibrahim.

This land had Hittites, Amorites, and many others.

It had the Amalekites or the Philistines, not the Palestinians.

They were from the Aegean people.

This land is the land of Canaan.

Even the ancient Hebrew was called the Tongue of Canaan.

The Torah states the fact of the land’s foreignness.

Jacob went back from Egypt to buy land to bury his wife Rahil.

But there was no mention of a promised land in the Torah,

it was implied, but the ‘promised’ as a term doesn’t exist in the Torah.

An eternal land was promised to be given.

I want to clarify an important idea to the listeners, which I always clarify to my

students.

This land must be earned by force before it is promised.

In French, it is called ‘terre promise et terre conquise’

A conquered land.

You are promised the land, but by what means?

The Torah and Talmud texts of the Middle Ages discuss several matters.

Years ago, in a conference of the United Nations, the Israeli ambassador Danny
Danon…

And the viewers can watch its video on YouTube with good quality.

In international law's very territory,

in which you must speak the international law language!

The international law that allowed the creation of Israel by the 1947 Partition
Plan.

He responded to a representative who reproached the Israeli violations

How did Danny Danon respond?

He took a Torah book, wore the Kippa, and recited from the Genesis book.

A famous text:

“I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a
permanent possession.”

He said that this religious text was their ownership certificate!

A religious text!

Imagine an Arab Muslim ambassador raising the Quran and saying, “My righteous
servants shall inherit the land”!

The peak of arrogance!

The ambassador of the state that was created by the Partition Plan

raised the Torah as the ownership certificate!

Islam has two major branches, Sunnah and Shia, and many schools.

-Is there such a thing in Judaism?

-Of course!

“The Jews split into seventy-one sects, all in hell, except one”

This Hadith is about the splitting.

The surviving sects’ Hadith started by the Jewish ones.

Looking at Jewish history, the first split happened after David and Solomon’s
stage.

They split into two kingdoms,

the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south.

This was the first split, which caused the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian
invasions,

and later, the Greek and Roman invasions of this land.

For example, in the Roman era, there were the Sadducees.

And another sect, which Jesus belonged to

I will try to remember its name

Two or three sects

I sometimes have memory gaps

In the Islamic era…

There were the Samaritans who were perceived as disbelievers.

Because they were thought to be traitors for dealing with the Assyrians.

There were strict rules against communicating with them.

They reside in Nablus, Palestine, and they don’t acknowledge Jerusalem,

but instead, Mount Gerizim near Nablus is considered a capital.

And they have another Torah.

The largest sect we know in Islamic history appeared in the third century, during
the Abbasid era.

The Karaite Jewish sect, which is an important one.

It was led by Anan ben David, who was a Karaite.

They differ from the rest of the Jewish community by only believing in Torah, so
the Talmud is rejected.

There are two types of Torah, the oral Torah, which is the Talmud,

and the written Torah, which is the 24 books.

-So, the Talmud is...

-The oral Torah.

They reject the oral Torah but only accept the written Torah.

So, they call themselves Benei Mikra, which is derived from the root ‘qara’ which
means ‘read’.

They only believe in the Mikra, which is the readable Torah.

They resemble the Zahiri school, which means they rely on the outward meaning of
expressions.

And they have a controversy with the other Jewish sects.

Anan ben David was influenced by Dawood Al-Zahiri in Baghdad.

This sect produced many texts.

Some of them, like Yaqub Qirqisani

in his Book of Lights and Watch-Towers who was the only one who acknowledged the
Prophet’s prophecy.

He said he was a true prophet, but he was the Arabs' Prophet.

There was a conflict between the Rabbinic and Karaite Jewish groups during the
Middle Ages.

When they were oppressed in Iraq after a revolution against some caliphs,

they went to Al-Andalus along with the Umayyad people who took refuge there.

Ibn Hazm, who was prominent in his Jewish debates,

gained much of his knowledge in refuting Rabbinic Judaism from the Karaite

who resided in Talavera and other parts of Al-Andalus.

During the second world war, Nazism didn’t see them as Jewish because the Rabbinic
Jewish didn’t.

So, Nazism couldn’t track them.

They are very few now, less than 700 people same as the decreasing number of
Samaritans.

There were many of them in Egypt in the Middle Ages and some of them in the US and
Israel.

This was the largest split.

Then, during the Jewish Enlightenment, other sects of the Jewish followed Orthodox
Judaism.

Orthodox is a modern expression.

As well as Liberal Judaism.

These Jewish movements started with…

It is important to be mentioned because it will lead us to discuss the modern age’s

Israel and Zionism.

The Jewish history was a peaceful one.

Until the 18th century,

the Jewish person led a simple life by knowing the religious texts of the Torah and
rules only.

Reading some jurists' texts and explanations of the Torah.

They would be disturbed in the 18th century.

Because the Enlightenment era started in Europe, in Berlin.

The intellectual aspect of this era started in Germany.

Later, there were social and political manifestations in France.

As well as the philosophical one.

The Enlightenment resulted from two previous movements.

In the 17th century, there was the Copernican scientific revolution.

Europe’s perception of the universe, physics, chemistry, and space was changing.

But before that, another revolution was happening in Europe, which was the
Renaissance.

The Renaissance, the Reform, and the Revolution are different concepts.

The Italian Renaissance started in Genoa’s ports.

It was an elite Renaissance, it didn’t reach common people.

And it was under the Pope’s control, which means the church still had authority

before the religious criticism.

This Renaissance was aesthetically prosperous in art, architecture, and so.

After the Renaissance, there was the scientific revolution.

In the 18th century, a philosophical revolution was starting.

It introduced new philosophical ideas.

One of these ideas was the social contract,

which states that the relationship between the ruler and the subject is
contractual.

The nation concept was changing Europe.

The social contract means the relationship between the ruler and the subject was
consensual.

So, there was a revolution against the church, which led to the appearance of
Protestantism.

Another concept of political philosophy was citizenship.

A huge introduction to humanity, Islam, and Judaism.

The good citizen isn’t mainly determined by religion.

But instead, determined by performing his duties and claiming his rights.

The average European human began to have rights and performed duties.

One of the most asserted duties was paying taxes, for example.

So, religion had no essential role in determining a good citizen.

Which brought challenges to the minorities in Europe.

Among which was the Jewish minority in Germany.

In Germany, a very famous Moses Mendelssohn, father of the Jewish Enlightenment.

There was a major enlightenment that emerged from the Christian tradition,

in which there was a Jewish Enlightenment called Haskalah.

Which means, in Hebrew, someone with an intellectual capacity.

Moses Mendelssohn was facing a challenge

while the citizenship and social contract concepts were creeping in.

What will the Jewish who lived in the Ghetto do?

It started a never-ending Jewish predicament.

Ariel Sharon and the Revisionist Zionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky expressed it.

‘What are we going to do? Will we stay in the Ghetto or exit it to the world?

The traditional Jewish religious figure concept will end.

And another figure will emerge, the intellectual, a new concept.

This intellectual will contribute to his age’s knowledge.

The culture won’t be only religious but also musical,

theatrical, philosophical and medicinal, and such worldly knowledge.

Will the German Jewish accept a civil law steering his life?

One of the things a Jewish cherishes is the Halakhah,

which formed their whole life until their political presence in Palestine.

They believe that their place in history is attributed to holding Jewish

regulations.

Will their exit to the German state's laws melt them?

A Jewish person’s eternal fear is of the melt, of blending in!

A Jewish wants to stay Jewish in a different world.

Even while living in Canaan land, they wanted to stand out

by creating a jurisdictional system that keeps their privacy.

So, Moses Mendelssohn was one of those who asked the Jewish to exit the Ghetto.

And taking in a breath of fresh air and a new culture.

He translated the Torah text into German.

Trying to bring the Jewish closer to the Germans and Germanic culture.

And he published books about this matter.

But some conservatives wanted to stay the same because they were afraid.

What’s interesting is that Moses Mendelssohn had two children who became
Christians!

Like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote Émile about education but had homeless
children.

So, two groups.

A group wanted to stay, and a group wanted to enter the modern world.

We gained a very important thing from this movement as Muslims.

Some may know the names but don’t know the origin of it.

The orientalists, from which the very famous to anyone interested in Islamic
studies, the prominent orientalist Goldziher.

He and dozens of other orientalists came from Poland, Austria, Germany, and
Hungary.

They belonged to a school called the Wisdom of Israel or, in German, Wissenschaft
des Judentums (Science of Judaism).

A new science that aims to understand Judaism in a modern manner.

The scholars who had the modern European mentality looked at Torah and Talmud
through a critical lens.
They received a secularised education.

They thought many Judaism aspects should end because they weren’t relevant to the
modern world.

They studied Judaism history of all ages.

And found that a large part of their history was connected to the Islamic world.

So they specialized in Arabic-Islamic studies.

This school produced the most prominent orientalists, and we learned a lot from
their knowledge.

Especially on Islamic studies and text revisions.

The classic Orientalism, before 1977.

Because after that, classic Orientalism will end.

But we rejected them!

Either because they were Jewish or for their questioning of Islam.

While many of them granted Muslims great services, at least in text revisions.

Especially German orientalism.

I had a German friend who knew the famous German orientalist Otto Spies.

He said if you asked a German orientalist who is Aisha,

he’d say, a feminine agent noun of a vowel-middle verb.

This shows the established philological knowledge of Orientalists,

which wasn't essentially about colonialism.

These orientalists gave us great insight into texts we didn’t know in our decadent
ages.

For example, Nöldeke wasn’t Jewish but belonged to this school.

He studied creed, jurisprudence, and Hadith.

This orientalism, which we owe so much

The problem is that Muslims didn’t know that Orientalism wasn’t antagonistic as
they thought.

Because classical Orientalism accepted the Islamic principle notions.

For example, they criticized Hadith but took the principle of a true Hadith and a
false Hadith.

They accepted the principle.

They acknowledge the fact that Quran is a revelation, a descent book from heaven.
But they debated the arrangement of verses and nature Surahs (Makki or Madani).

Which was a debate Muslims had, and Sajastani’s book of Masahef is an example of
it.

But classical orientalism will end in 1977,

and another radical school will emerge and cause trouble to modern Islamic
perception.

Due to the Haskalah Jewish movement,

some Jewish will accept merging into the world, while others won’t.

After a while, a very dangerous incident occurred, which changed the factors.

The Jewish of Europe faced a dilemma: to merge and blend in, or not to?

Moses Mendelssohn is a leader of Liberal Judaism.

But there will be an opposing movement, the neo-Orthodox Judaism.

The incident that changed everything completely is the Dreyfus affair.

He was a French officer who was accused by the French ant-semite of causing France
to lose the war.

And the person who covered the affair, which was a false accusation, was Theodor
Herzl!

This Austrian journalist was sent by his newspaper to cover the trial.

He concluded that “even if you take your skin off, I won’t recognize you!”
(a quote from Arabic literature by Al-Jahiz).

The Jewish will never be accepted in Europe whatsoever!

The merge was just an illusion!

After years of trying to blend in with the Europeans, the Jewish were still
unwanted.

So, a third solution to the Jewish-European crisis.

Which will be suggested by Zionism!

The Zionist project was a third solution after the failing merge and melt.

So, the Jewish of the world will conclude that the solution is not to blend in but
to exit Europe.

A solution for the Jewish problem must be found outside of Europe.

Theodor Herzl wrote his book Judenstaat.

I would like to clarify something which led to a misunderstanding in the Arab world
and Europe.

The mistake was fixed in the late translations.

The literal translation is the State of the Jews, not the Jewish State.

In the beginning, it was translated as the Jewish state.

But he wasn’t suggesting creating a Jewish state.

He died of a sexually transmitted disease.

And his motive was Christian Zionism.

Everything he thought of was induced by Reverend William Hechler.

He was in the British embassy in Austria, which is known to specialists.

Christian Zionism was the biggest supporter of the Zionist project and Theodor
Herzl, even before he was believed by the Jewish.

At the time, the Jewish of Europe rejected the project and any talk of returning to
Palestine.

I will further explain it.

Theodor Herzl was looking for a land where the Jewish could live.

Therefore, the first conference in Basel, Switzerland, was attended by Jewish

secularists and communists of Eastern Europe.

There were marginalized thoughts of returning to Palestine by Judah Alkalai.

And it was attended by two Zionist leaders, one of which was the founder of the Red
Cross, Henry Dunant.

And Hechler and two more others from marginalized Jewish communities.

The conference was conducted in Basel, Switzerland, but it was supposed to be in

Munich, Germany.

But the German Jewish refused to host the conference, project, and person.

Why did they refuse?

Because Judaism was against creating a nation outside of Europe.

The Zionist project was completely rejected by traditional Judaism.

It will change later; I will explain it and its dangers to the Arab world.

He was looking for land for the Jewish.

It was known that Libya was suggested as a land to be occupied, as well as Uganda
and Argentine.

Having a state of the Jewish in Palestine wasn’t even on the table.

A similar thing happened in Pakistan.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a lawyer who received a liberal education in Britain.
Upon his split from the Indian Congress, he sought a state where Muslims could
live.

He wasn’t aiming to create an Islamic state.

He believed it became impossible despite Mahatma Gandhi’s efforts and the split in
the Congress.

He thought that the only solution for the Muslims of India was to live in a
separate state.

Without having it be an Islamic state.

The transformation of Pakistan from a state for Muslims into a Muslim state was
done by General Zia-ul-Haq.

After former President Bhutto’s murder,

he was trying to legitimize his role by approaching the religious community.

-Which changed Pakistan from a state of Muslims into

-An Islamic State

If Muhammad Ali Jinnah had been raised from his grave, he wouldn’t recognize the
Pakistan he created.

It was the same for Theodor Herzl; he was looking for a state where the Jewish
could live.

He was a secularist who held no respect for religion and had a weak relationship
with it.

But the discussions in the many Zionism conferences made Palestine seem plausible.

Under the pressure of Christian Zionism and the British support.

Palestine was under the British mandate after the Sykes–Picot Agreement.

The Balfour Declaration wasn’t written in English but was originally written in
Hebrew.

It was written by the Zionist writer Nahum Sokolow.

In the Hebrew text, it was written as ‘Jewish Home’, not a Jewish state.

Because the American president refused the word state.

So it was replaced by ‘home’ because it is equivalent to the Jewish word ‘Bayit’.

Which sometimes means state.

This text was part of the creation of the Zionist project.

I wrote an article about the Christian Zionism.

Part of Christian Zionism was suppressed by Saint Augustine.

The part that called for helping the Jewish to create a home.
Part of Christianity believed that the Jewish must be eliminated,

while another believed that some of them must stay.

So they witness the return of Jesus at the end of time.

Then they will be offered to believe in him.

So, Christian Zionism has an interest in defending the Zionist project.

They thought that the Jewish must be helped to return to Palestine

so that Jesus will find the people he lived with in his early life when he returns.

That’s why there is momentum in the US between the president’s spiritual diplomacy
advisers.

Which was seen in Trump’s time.

The six or seven people next to him belonged to Christian Zionism.

One of them is the son of a famous Christian Zionist priest Jerry Falwell.

Why were there options other than Palestine?

Why did they consider Olivia, Uganda, and Argentine?

As I said in the beginning, it was not a religious project but a political project.

It was a solution to the Jewish problem.

Merging or staying in the ghettos weren’t available options.

So there must be a solution for the Jewish ethnicity.

It is a political issue.

Palestine was a religious matter.

I will give you another example.

The reason behind the rejection of this project by traditional Judaism is

It needs a long explanation of the land’s importance and the holiness of Palestine.

After the first temple destruction and the exit of the Jewish from Palestine.

There’s a story with historical symbolism

Upon the Roman siege of Jerusalem,

The Jewish people wanted to ensure the escape of religious figure

the rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai,

who was one of the scholars who created the Mishnah.

It is a mythological narrative, but like all mythological narratives, it reflects

some sort of truth.
They said the rabbi died and he should be buried outside the city.

They put him in a coffin and asked the Roman ruler’s permission to exit the siege.

So this rabbi escaped to the Galilee north of Palestine.

He established a school in Galilee which later collected the Mishnah text.

Through the story, the Jewish believe that what kept them safe was not the state,

not the political entity or the military,

but the Torah kept them safe, the religion.

Which makes religion essential!

What is in the Torah and Talmud texts about the concept of the land?

First, it didn’t specify the boundaries of the land.

Sometimes it gets too small, but other times it expands its reaches from the Nile
to the Euphrates.

And what are its smaller boundaries?

The current coastal boundaries of Palestine.

The land sometimes isn’t the concern, but the focus would be on Jerusalem.

During the Babylonian captivity, the focus was on Jerusalem.

When they exit it, they talk about the land of Israel.

In 1948, during the beginning of the Zionist regime,

Ben-Gurion, the Mapai party leader, had a conflict with a few religious Jewish
groups

about the unset constitution since then, which was replaced by the Status Quo.

Israel now functions by 15 essential laws

and there are demands to form a constitution, which is the recent conflict with
Netanyahu.

When Ben-Gurion was asked about Israel’s boundaries, he answered that the Israeli
army was the best way to know.

Wherever an Israeli soldier stops, the Israeli boundary is set!

Traditional Judaism's conflict among Jewish jurists was about whether living in
Israel was obligatory.

Some of them thought it wasn't.

It is the same as in Tunisia or Algeria,

we wish to die in Makkah, but living in Makkah isn’t obligatory!

So, some Jewish groups thought it wasn’t obligatory to live in the holy city.

But other groups used to visit Jerusalem for Jewish practice or to die in the holy
land.

There was another debate about whether this land should be taken by armed forces!

There was a famous text about the three promises held by Jewish scholars in the
19th century.

The text forbids the Jewish to return to Palestine by force!

They could negotiate, buy land, or use pacific measures, but not by force!

Zionism didn’t take this approach,

but they thought the god must be helped

to facilitate the return by buying land!

But later, there was Stern, Irgun, international politics, Britain, negotiations,
and buying land.

Using military force was the conflict point between Zionism and traditional
Judaism.

Zionism thought that to set foot in Palestine,

they must form the National Zionist Fund to buy land or use British diplomacy.

As far as I remember, Chaim Weizmann was the Israel Congress's first leader and
president.

He founded the technology institute that created the nuclear weapon.

He was a chemistry scientist

who helped the British in providing energy solutions in their war with the Ottoman
Empire.

And its Indian territory.

He was rewarded by the Balfour Declaration in 1917.

It is a historical topic, some Arabs accepted the Jewish state later.

Zionism was a secularist movement with a weak relationship with religion.

-But little by little…

-It got stronger or weaker?

It got so stronger until it reached its peak in the modern day.

-In the beginning, the relationship between the state and religion was weak!
-Very weak!

Zionism was a Christian Zionist project at first.

And some Jewish who thought the only solution was to exit Europe and find land.

Little by Little, they will accept Palestine as land and the Hebrew language.

There were debates on the language of this new nation.

They considered German because it was thought to be a strong language of the elite.

Later, the Yiddish language was suggested,

which is the language of Poland and Eastern Europe Jewish.

It consists of Polish, Hebrew, and German languages.

Which, by the way, has an excellent theatre.

But these debates led to the Revival of the Hebrew language movement,

led by Eliezer, who created the modern Hebrew dictionary.

These debates, little by little, led to the conquering of Palestine.

The only Arab who felt that something wasn’t normal was Naguib Azoury, a prominent
Syrian intellectual.

He wrote in French that these migrations to Palestine weren’t normal!

And they didn't come for pilgrimage or visit holy sites, but it was an alarming
organized move!

Arabs realized after Balfour Declaration that there was something dangerous going
on.

Migrations increased, especially after World War II

because Europe wanted to redeem its Nazism by finding a solution for the Jewish
people.

In 1948, Ben-Gurion found a solution to the religious predicament by avoiding

religious communities.

Regarding the religious community, Agudat Yisrael.

There weren't many political demands, except they didn't want a constitution other
than the Torah.

If Ben-Gurion said that the state would be ruled by other than Torah, they would
disagree!

So, Ben-Gurion avoided talking about this topic and left it as the status quo.

He was so cunning that he was called the fox.

He avoided controversy and made compromises.

The personal status law was left to the traditional Jewish.

-Who rejected the land concept?

-These are the ones who accepted the project!
-They were in charge of personal status law!
-Yes!

Under Israel's chief rabbinate's authority.

In Israel, the definition of a Jewish person was controversial, but this was an old
topic.

But he accepted the definition of this rabbinate or traditional Judaism.

Which is, Jewish is a son of a Jewish mother, and so on.

In personal status laws, marriage and divorce were governed by Jewish legislation.

If someone wanted to marry outside Jewish legislation, they must marry in Cyprus
and return.

But that was before the reform of civil regulations.

-What is the nature of this marriage?

-A civil marriage, non-religious!

Without the presence of a rabbi, like anywhere in the world.

Also, inheritance laws were according to Jewish tradition, but they were reformed
later.

Regarding gender equality.

Because inheritance laws excluded women, like many Jewish backward regulations
regarding women.

Many criticize the Islamic world in that regard, but the traditional Jewish women's
law is very bad!

These are the beginnings.

They were to determine personal status laws and Kashrut.

And he agreed to exclude these Jewish groups from military service.

It was the opposite of today because the top military troops now are from religious
communities.

Things changed!

But in the beginning, the traditional perception was that Torah was the survival of
the Jewish, not military or state.

So, these communities served the Torah and read it, which was considered a great
service to Israel.

There were pardoned from military service, but later it wasn’t favorable by left
and secularist parties.

As well as funding religious schools and universities.

He was left to handle foreign policy and administration.

This was the agreement between Agodat Yisrail and Ben-Gurion’s Mapai parties,

and it lasted until 1967.

In 1967, things started to change.

Because as you know, we call it the Naksa (the day of the setback).

But it was a divine intervention in the history of the Jewish!

In 1967, eastern and western Jerusalem was united and occupied.

Israel achieved a great victory in six days and won over many Arab armies.

It was seen as the Israel god’s intervention in history.

Which started a religious wave in Israel.

The same as the religious wave in the Arab world!

The Arab world's religious people saw it as a divine punishment.

They thought it happened because they were driven away from Islam.

It manifested in the Nasser and the Brotherhood conflict.

So, they started to think the solution wasn’t in Communism or Nationalism but in
Islam.

There were books titled Islam is the Solution.

While in Israel, there was a religious awakening.

Many Jewish became more religious,

even the irreligious were under the religious thrill.

An ideology contributed to this awakening, which accompanied the Zionist project

led by a rabbi.

I urge every Arab interested in the topic to study this man’s school.

It was ideologically and spiritually led by an eastern European Jewish who lived in
the US and then returned to Palestine.

He was Israel’s chief rabbi Avraham Kook.

Rabbi Kook was a mystic, philosophical, and religious figure.

He was laughing deep down from Zionism which perceived itself as a secularist
movement.

He accommodated Zionism to traditional Judaism.

He said, briefly, that these secularist Zionists think they achieved worldly goals,

but they were doing god’s will.

They thought they made worldly efforts but were serving Israel’s god.
So, Zionism and Judaism weren’t contradictory.

Because these Zionists are the servants sent by Israel’s God to achieve his will
without them feeling.

He wrote that in mystic, religious, and philosophical articles.

Many Jewish found themselves in him.

He lived in Palestine in 1935,

but his words were a sanctuary from the conflicting nature of Zionism and Judaism.

I read memoirs of leading military figures who said they followed his ideologies.

This ideology continued living in Israel through his son, Isaac, if I remember
correctly.

After 1967, this son’s school bred all the anti-Arab Zionist movements.

I will explain it.

In Israel, there was a school called Mercaz HaRav,

Rav is an honoring name.

Led by his son, it was the biggest jurisprudence faculty.

It created thousands and thousands of settlers!

This school produced Gush Emunim, the Bloc of the Faithful movement.

And produced the terrorist Meir Kahane.

He published an infamous book, They Must Go.

Most movements, like Hilltop Youth and Kahanism, came from this religious school.

After 1967, they started the settlement project.

It would be opposed by some members of the left.

But after 1977, the left collapsed, and the right parties were stronger.

And the Herut party led by Menachem Begin.

He belonged to the nationalist Zionism

founded by Russian Vladimir Jabotinsky

who published an article in 1933 titled, The Iron Wall.

The iron wall in Japotinsky’s perspective is summed up in a simple sentence:

If I was a Palestinian, I would reject this project!

It is the land of the Palestinians, and we will take it by force, so if I was a

Palestinian, I would resist!
The solution was to kill resistance in the Palestinians.

Because killing them was eventually happening.

The Zionists had to kill the Palestinians' desire or thought of resistance, not
resistance itself.

Which is what he called the iron wall, the mental wall.

Which was taken literally by Ariel Sharon, who built the cement wall.

A historian critic of Zionism, Avi Shlaim, wrote a book about the Iron Wall.

In 1967, upon the adhesion of the Zionist religious parties with the nationalist
parties of Jabotinsky,

the deadly cocktail, as I called it, was formed in Israel!

The chauvinistic nationalism adhesion with the extreme religious ideology

will create a deadly cocktail that will destroy Arabs and Palestinians.

These religious people started a project called Israel Hashlema, complete Israel.

All Israeli lands must be seized.

What is Israel’s land?

The current state’s boundaries

Not leaving a spot with a Palestinian on it!

-Entire Palestine?
-All of it!

In the legal and current situation.

They let go of the Greater Israel fantasy.

After 1948, there were the Green Line Arabs, the demilitarized zones.

There are Palestinians still living in this new state with Israeli nationality.

Kahane said in his speech the one time he was in the Knesset.

Later, he was hunted down and assassinated in the US, New York.

He was a double agent with the FBI and an extreme Zionist.

His speech was one the most interesting things an Arab citizen can listen to.

I always urged my students to listen to it.

He said, “You, Knesset members, are donkeys.”

He said they are similar to Ibrahim’s two boys when he was carrying his son Isaac
to the altar.
In the Jewish perception, Ibrahim was carrying his son to the altar

and asked them if they saw what he saw, which was the altar.

But they said no, so he asked them to stay with the donkey.

So, the Knesset members were like donkeys because they didn’t see what he saw!

He said the Palestinian who lived among us won’t become a good Israeli if provided
water, electricity, and education.

Because on their independence day celebration, the Palestinian mourns the Nakba.

And when they sing Hatikva, the Israeli song of hope,

which some Arabs listen to it not knowing its history.

He said, meanwhile, Palestinians sing Mawtini.

And he gave a lot of examples of how Palestinians cannot become good Israeli
citizens.

They were donkeys because a good Palestinian was a murdered, exiled, or transferred
Palestinian.

He thought Palestinians must be transferred from the Israeli land!

This accelerated settlement project from 1967 until today practically ended the
Two-state Solution.

I will explain the Two-State solution to the viewers.

It might be a blessing in disguise, which I will explain.

If you and I were negotiating on dividing a cheese pack with eight pieces in it.

While we are negotiating the solution, I eat a piece every time.

So, we were talking about eight pieces, but due to the settlement, there wasn’t a
single piece left!

The Two-State solution ended.

That’s why important US parties talked a few weeks ago in Foreign Affairs magazine
about the One-State Solution.

Which was rejected by all Zionist groups.

Some of them warned against the predicament of the One-State Solution if the Two-
State Solution was rejected.

The one state is a problem because they are classified as an apartheid country,
which is concerning.

The BDS boycott movement is focusing on classifying it as an apartheid regime that

segregates.

I’m not talking about Gaza or the Bank but about 48-Arab.
It is an apartheid system.

And what’s more dangerous is the demographic growth.

In the future, they will be outnumbered.

And there’s talk about a Jewish state, but the One-State Solution hinders that.

Because they would promote a Jewish democratic state.

But it would be Jewish to Arabs, and democratic to the Jews!

Which is a predicament for the state!

The solution is to shed light on these contradictions.

Back to the Two-State topic, it is not what the Liberation Organisation agreed on
in the past.

Because things changed on land and it is complicated.

But powerful foreign political mediums started a conversation on the One-State

Solution.

Why did you say it would be a blessing in disguise?

Because the One-State Solution will make Israel face its contradictions.

It cannot be a Jewish state!

Ariel Sharon strived to make it a Jewish state.

justified by the ‘Jewish Home’ in the Balfour Declaration,

and having a Jewish state like the Islamic state.

Trying to get Palestinians out of the land.

Anyway, I think it will be complicated for Israel in the coming years.

If only Palestinians and Arabs deal with the situation cleverly and in a well-
informed manner.

I mentioned the dangers of normalization.

This state, the Zionist project, strives to make Israel a normal entity in the
region.

This is the dream of the Zionist movement.

The Arab people must accept the normality of this entity!

Therefore, they are constantly trying to achieve political normalization.

Political normalization could be driven by the flexibility of political systems.

Because politicians' obligations are different from the ones of intellectuals and
common people.
Political relationships are changeable and obsolete.

A signed agreement today could change tomorrow.

The fear is that this normalization find its way into society.

And becomes a part of the Arab citizens’ social lives, institutions, universities,
companies, food, and drinks.

This is what we should be careful about!

For example, the Abraham Accords.

I won’t talk about its political or economic aspects because they have specialists
who can discuss them.

To be clear, I’m not aiming to hint at any system.

But to clarify the ideological and religious serious fallacies.

In a study, I said that Abraham Accords wanted to focus on the common ancestor.

Ibrahim, who they don’t call Ibrahim, but Abraham to Avraham.

So, the Torah's name was there from the beginning.

The essence of these accords is that common ancestry justifies sharing the riches
of the region!

So, an Israeli would have a right to Saudi petroleum, Emirati oil, and Qatari gas.

Why? Because we are all descendants of Ibrahim!

But what is forgotten is that Abraham is deceiving Ibrahim!

How so?

Because the Abraham they talk of is not our Ibrahim.

The Torah Abraham who represents their right to take Palestine's land

as an inheritance from Isaac is not the Ibrahim we believe in!

Everything related to the Ibrahimic ancestry, Ibrahim’s figure, and Torah's claims
are rejected by us!

We rejected their perception of the Torah, Ibrahim, Isaac, and Ismail.

It is an attempt to mislead by having Ibrahim as a shared father.

But no! Your Abraham is not our Ibrahim.

Nor your Torah is ours!

And so on!

We have our perception regarding the land, the covenant, and everything else!

It is what the American administration calls spiritual diplomacy.

Using the spiritual and religious aspects to pass political projects and enable the
Zionist project in the region.

So we need to keep this in mind.

The decision maker, intellectual, academic, and everyone must understand the
dangers of it.

We must work against making Israel a normal entity in the region.

Until it provides all the Palestinians' rights and solves the four issues.

For example, at the Madrid conference, there was a talk about temporary political
solutions.

But there were four issues of the ultimate solution.

Jerusalem, settlement, refugees, and nature of the state.

With five years' notice to solve these issues.

Yitzhak Shamir said let it be twenty years!

Now, twenty years later, these issues of Jerusalem, refugees, and settlement
weren’t solved yet.

Saying this doesn’t mean we want disputes, but as people with rights!

The rights of the Palestinians to shape their own lives must be guaranteed
respectfully.

And acknowledge the international agreements and laws regarding this dispute,

which Israel didn’t even comply with a line of them.

But instead, Danny Danon raised his Torah claiming the ownership of the land!

It is a shame to waste all these rights!

It’s not even a matter of land for peace anymore, but it is peace for peace!

Just give the land!

According to my studies of Zionism, I always feel alert about it.

The risks of this project aren’t only for Palestine but for all Arab countries.

The risk exceeds the small area of Palestine.

Also, research centers and specialized departments must be established

to create a new generation of Arab researchers.

Such projects must be done by powerful institutions to create a library.

We don’t need to acknowledge Israel or sit with them!

In my opinion, we know what they write and publish

and can have it all to work with it and learn its language.

So, we establish a generation of researchers

who help us find our way when there’s confusion in politics, economics, and
education.

What would it be like if all Arab countries normalized?

My wish is that not all Arab countries would normalize.

But as I said, politics has its coercions.

Max Weber did explain the difference between a politician and a scientist.

Egypt and Jordan normalized, but we know that these strong countries kept it cold,
monitored, and limited.

Even the Israeli cultural center in Cairo didn’t last long.

Which makes it more of a protocol peace.

My fear isn’t this, but the influence on society.

The most dangerous normalization is to have Israel in your food, drinks, books,
markets, universities, and companies!

This is the danger!

Because if they wanted to live with us,

they could coexist peacefully with respect for full Palestinian rights.

You said, "Israel mustn’t be given any compromise without something in return."

"Which makes it a must to work against Israeli being a Jewish state by all means."

If it isn’t a Jewish state now, how would it be described?

I did research on the religion and state in Israel.

As I said, it wasn’t founded as a religious state but it walks hastily towards

being a religious state.

Who rules Israel today?

And who are the politicians in the Israeli government?

The religious right never had a role in politics before 1967.

Until the Zionist religious right made it to the top!

Who is Itamar Ben-Gvir?

The minister of National Security and one of the leaders of religious Zionism.

Who is Bezalel Smotrich, the minister of Finance?

He has a famous saying regarding the solution to the Palestine issue through the
religious right.

He gave a famous speech at the Knesset and said that Ben-Gurion’s biggest mistake
was leaving the job undone!

If Ben-Gurion eliminated all Palestinians before the armistice, we wouldn’t be

going through these issues!

So, the job must be finished!

As if we don’t read or listen to such things!

The Palestinians are the thorn,

left by history, chance, or divine protection,

in this state’s side!

Their problem was explicit with the Palestinians left in the land by Ben-Gurion.

If Ben-Gurion purged them, we wouldn’t be bothered!

So, this Zionist religious group is at the core of the government.

But among the Israeli people, they only represent 15%!

In numbers!

But their political weight is huge!

Because the Israeli electoral system is proportional.

And the biggest political parties in Israel are the Labour Party and the Likud.

It doesn’t allow any party to have an absolute majority and rule freely.

The ruling party either has a 51% or 52% majority.

And the small difference cannot be achieved unless the religious parties cooperate!

Having the approval of religious parties.

These religious parties are politically powerful even though their numbers are
small.

They demand a return to enter the government, compromises, settlements, and loans.

And threaten to take down governments.

So, Israel’s leaders seek the religious community’s favor in the US and in Israel
to get the majority.

Even though Netanyahu is naturally against Palestinian rights, he is under these

parties’ mercy.

For example, the last deal he made was when he wanted to have a grip over the
judiciary in Israel.
He compromised under huge pressure.

So, Ben-Gvir asked him to sign on establishing a national guard force with the main
mission of tracking Palestinians.

It is a complicated process!

Also, Israeli society ideologically leans toward the religious perception that the
Palestinians are a burden.

Of course, like all colonized nations, some Palestinians play this game.

But it is all against the inside and outside Palestinians' rights.

If these are 15%, what are the other components?

Left or nationalist Jewish.

Actually, there are three parties.

The nationalist Zionism, which is the Likud party’s ideology and similar parties.

As well as the religious parties, from one extreme to another.

Because the Jewish movements are degrees, like the Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewish
groups.

They merge and separate, and some parties form with new names.

Besides the weakening left parties that have no real role in Israeli politics.

Because as I said, it’s heading to combine nationalism with religion

which is dangerous and weakens the left party.

So, the Arab world must help the inside Palestinians.

Even if they had Israeli nationality, they are still Palestinians!

They must be dealt with and relieved from isolation.

And never deal with Israelis unless it is proven that they are against Zionism

and made great efforts against Israel and defend Palestine's rights.

It is commendable.

Some historians refused the Israeli narrative and approached the Palestine
narrative.

It was mentioned by prominent Palestinian historians like Nur Masalha and Walid Al-
Khalidi.

Even if the Zionist culture had traces on them, everyone against the occupation and
the Israel-Arab dispute must be helped.

It must be distinguishable!

-Thank you very much!

-Thank you! May Allah bless you! And thanks to the listeners!

Thank you!

[Credits]

This was Finjan, a product of thmanyah.

We publish with love, from Riyadh.

Until next week!

What do you think about Abdel Wahab El-Messiri’s work on the encyclopedia?

Dr. El-Messiri did a huge job which filled a large gap!

By the way, El-Messiri project was funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the
beginning.

Many don’t know that such a project, which required huge funding, was funded by
Saudi Arabia.

Abdel Wahab El-Messiri went through two stages in his life.

The stage of the comparative English literature professor.

Then the Encyclopedia stage, and after that, he took the path of scientific writing
and political engagement.

Which is seen in his writings.

This Encyclopedia is one of its kind in the Arab world that filled the gap.

It must be known that it wasn’t all El-Messiri’s own work,

but a group of Egyptian and non-Egyptian professors wrote this encyclopedia.

El-Messiri is credited for gathering them to serve the project.

He selected what he saw fit of material for the Encyclopaedia.

And he altered some aspects which needed to be rewritten from an Arabic-Islamic

perspective.

The same as what Egyptians did when they tried to translate the Islamic
Encyclopaedia.

Some of them commented on some mistakes or misunderstandings.

This is the essence of El-Messiri project and some of the material needs to be
revised.

He wrote it intending to define the Jewish as a functional group according to the

sociology of knowledge.

If you don’t understand Jewish as a functional group, you wouldn’t be able to

understand the essence of the Jewish Encyclopedia.

The Jewish as a part of a colonial project in the Arabic region.

And they were functional even in Europe’s history.

We know about the Islamic-Jewish-Christian relationships in the Middle Ages.

Because the Jewish were called Rahadena Jewish.

The singular form is Rahdan,

which is in Tunisian dialect the clever man,

or who shows something and hides something else.

These Rahadenah merchants and translators were dealing with both Christian and
Islamic empires.

They chose these professions due to the conflicting relationship between the two
empires.

So there resembles a connection between these two civilizations.

The most prominent translators in the middle ages were from them.

Because the actual dispute of the Middle Ages was not between Muslims and Jewish.

Because the Jewish didn’t held no weight over the Islamic or Christian sides.

The actual dispute was between Christianity and Islam; it was a creed dispute.

The Jewish didn’t have a political entity that would make Christians or Muslims
fear them.

So, they were a marginalized connection between these civilizations.

As for El-Measiri, he filled a huge gap, may Allah grant him mercy.

But such efforts must continue even better than how El-Messiri left it.

I respect his national, Islam, and Arabic commitment.

And he tried to enlighten Arabs about the danger of the Zionist project.

He did a great job, and as with every man’s work, there are some correctable
aspects.

But he did his best work!

What is the symbolism of Kippa?

Humbleness!

Above all the knowers, there is a knower.

One of the interpretations.