Dr. Quanta Ahmed, the daughter of Pakistani immigrants to Britain, is pretty, well spoken, she is refined and is a devout Moslem.
A while back I had the opportunity to attend CAMERA's event (the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America - http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=24), in which they hosted this gracious woman. http://www.qantaahmed.com/about-me/#.UyeDMtNOWM9
What fascinates me about Dr. Ahmed is that though she is a Moslem she has keen relations with the State of Israel. For her positive opinion and for supporting Israel she paid a price in personal relations, she was officially excluded from visiting Saudi Arabia, and was told that for security reasons she should not visit Pakistan again.
The outspoken person she is, Dr. Ahmed expresses her clear opinions about her co-religionists and what attracts her to Israel, a country they dislike so much and wish harm while they have never been there.
Dr. Ahmed became interested in Israel through a colleague and her understanding of the country is based on personal relations. In her opinion everything about Israel is the narrative and whoever is delivering the narrative.
Over the years she became fascinated with Israel for its religious and academic freedom; for its treatment of minorities, which she finds to be unique; for its ethnic diversity and the respect for life at birth and death.
On her first trip to Israel, Dr. Ahmed was not a purchased guest, and thus free to see the country through her own eyes.
She does much comparison of Israel with Pakistan from where her parents immigrated to Britain.
A thought came to her mind while touring the country: Pakistan was established a year before Israel and it is not as developed country as Israel. Comparing to Pakistan, Israel is heaven, she says.
In Israel Moslems can live in peace and die in peace. But not in Pakistan. Try be an anomaly Moslem or deviate from Sunni to Shia and you will be desecrated.
Dr. Ahmed opposes political Islam and she finds it everywhere. In most Moslem countries Moslems restrict Moslem, she claims.
When Dr. Ahmed visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome Of The Rock she realized that the site is used as a political weapon against Israel. She opposes the seize of Islam, a religion her family practices with devotion, by Islamism.
On the subject of boycotting Israel she equates the boycotters to poverty.
Dr. Ahmed, who visits Israel often, believes that democracy is judged by the way it takes care of the vulnerable. Her claim, Israel is the antidote of the Middle East region atmosphere.
Living nowadays in the United States, she notices that among the American Jewish community there is a terrible disengagement from Israel. She questions why, when she sees the case for Israel so clear and she, a non-Jew overwhelmingly supports the state.
Our responsibility, she declares, is to tell the story about Israel. If there is no voice, there is no story.
If every Moslem, boycotter and an anti-Israel for whatever reason, sees Israel through the clear eyesight of Dr. Ahmed, the world will rest and the Messiah will arrive.
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