My First Encounter with “The Enemy” | Short Clips | PragerU

At school, we were taught that Israelis are invaders, that they occupied Lebanese territory, and the only ones who dared defy them was the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Hebah were a political party. They had an armed wing just like Hamas has an armed wing. And we perceived them as heroes because they had a righteous cause. They wanted to liberate southern Lebanon. When I was a child, we could sometimes when we played with the antenna receive a signal from an Israeli TV. We couldn't care less if it was biblical cartoon, if it was Hebrew. But if a grownup walked into the room, they would freak out. So, we associated Hebrew with the language of the enemy. We associated Hebrew with taboo. politicians, famous journalists, news anchors, wise people, your parents, your teachers, everybody's telling you, the Israelis, the Jews, the Zionists are our enemies. We had no interactions with Jews, none whatsoever. The first 18 years of my life, I spent in Lebanon, but eventually I landed in France. So I landed in Strasbuk and on the first day I went across the street to a small grocery store. They were speaking a language I knew it was Hebrew. When I turned and saw religious men with sideburns dressed in white and black big beards, I panicked. I dropped my stuff across the street, ran up to the third floor, locked my bedroom door. I was sharing the same space with the enemy for the first time ever and it was overwhelming. It was my first day in France and I was going to spend at least a year there and I realized nothing instigated a panic attack except what was inside my brain because in the Arab world we have anti-normalization laws and policies and it forbids the citizens of these countries from interacting with Israelis and if you are found guilty of collaborating with a Zionist or an Israeli, the consequences can be severe. But I realized that I'm not collaborating with Israel if I say hello to a Jew. And I was thinking, they didn't even look at you. But also, I left my stuff in the store and I had to go back and collect it. So, I decided to compose myself to return. I continued shopping and the owner was Jewish and he asked me when I came to pay where I came from. I told him um Lebanon, Syria and he understood when I said it was my first day that I panicked because I understood they were Jews. And he was pleasant and very nice and helped me with my bags. And I continued shopping there. And I realized years later that this man, although he didn't mean to, he converted me from an enemy to an ally through kindness.