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In the Middle East, Any Perceived Weakness Is an Invitation to Attack

(Mishpacha) Dr. Harold Rhode interviewed by Chananel Shapiro - Dr. Harold Rhode served in the U.S. Defense Department for 28 years as an advisor on Islamic culture. He speaks Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Hebrew, and French, as well as English. He said, "In Western society, we sometimes forget that in order to understand the enemy, we have to get into their brain. As long as we don't know how to do that, as long as we believe they think like we do, we will never be able to understand what motivates them. It can create situations of brutal and absolute surprise, as we saw on Oct. 7 in Israel." "Westerners understand that there are different narratives about a given situation....That's not the case in the Middle East, where most people only accept one narrative, their own - everyone else's narrative is wrong, regardless of objective reality. I soon realized that truth didn't matter there and was easily discarded for the point they wanted to make. Good friends often looked me in the eyes while lying to me." Rhode learned that in Islam, peace as the West defines it cannot exist between Muslims and non-Muslims. However, according to both the Koran and Sharia law, there can be a temporary agreement, some type of truce or armistice called a sulha or hudna. This is the type of non-aggression pact the Saudis and other Arab Muslim nations are willing to sign with Israel because they share a common enemy - Iran - but they are not long-term peace agreements, and will remain in force only as long as the leaders of these Arab countries believe them to be in their interest. "I learned that salam doesn't actually mean peace, as we would wish. Salam means the joy a Muslim gets by submitting to Allah's will."
2023-12-22 00:00:00
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