Aboud Dandachi: An Arab voice that the world needs to hear

There are too few voices for peace coming from the Arab world today. In fact this penury is so dire that Mahmood Abbas, a habitual liar and terrorist enabler, is widely courted by Western governments as a hope for peace! What a joke.

We need genuine Arab voices for peace. We do not need Arab voices that hide their anti-Semitism by recognizing only the few Jews who do not support Israel. We need Arab voices who, when they say that they support peace, they mean it because they support Israel as well.

Aboud Dandachi is such a voice.

Dandachi lost his house in the Syrian war, and he was forced to flee. He wrote, “Despite my best efforts and most earnest wishes, in the end I could not avoid becoming a refugee, one among millions of other Syrians scattered across the region and the world”. Dandachi now lives temporarily in Turkey.

Before the war started, Dandachi had worked in several positions in the Information Technology (IT) industry in various Gulf countries, and he was ready to settle down back home in Syria. The war disturbed his plan, and he became what he never thought he would become, a refugee dependent on the help of others.

But Dandachi is not just any refugee. Through his writings and interviews, he has become known around the world, especially among Zionists. Dandachi is one of the rare Arabs and Muslims who openly and eloquently speak in support of Israel and Jews. What’s more, he has made his voice heard while still a refugee and while still living in the Middle East.

Dandachi denounces anti-Semitism. He wrote, “Modern anti-Semitism in its new, updated guises poses a very real existential danger to Jewish communities. […]  All it takes is a bunch of street thugs waving Hamas and ISIS banners on the streets of London, Paris and Copenhagen to create an environment that endangers Europe’s Jewish communities. The 2015 shootings in Paris and Denmark did not arise out of a vacuum, months of anti-Semitic incitement set the stage and created the circumstances for the terrorist attacks.”

He denounces the hypocrisy of those who ignore Arab crimes against the Palestinians while claiming to support them. He wrote, “As a Syrian I have nothing but the utmost contempt for Gaza-groupies who rioted in front of Israeli embassies last summer, but apparently seem content to stay at home while Daesh and the Syrian regime butcher Palestinians in the Damascus Yarmouk neighborhood.”

We sometimes ask, “Where are the Muslims or Arabs who do not support terrorism?”

When we are told that many do not, we ask, “but how many of them oppose terrorism against Israel?”

When we are told that some oppose it, we ask, “Okay, but how many do so openly?”

Not many, but Dandachi is one of them.

Dandachi believes that peace with Israel is desirable and possible. He wrote, “Because of Israel’s humanity I am convinced any issues we have with them can be resolved”.

Having left Syria recently, and having lived in other Arab countries, Dandachi understands the Arab world well. Since he is fluent in both Arabic and English, he can reach a wide audience. While too many voices of hate are coming from the Arab world, Dandachi brings a type of freshness and authenticity that is rarely found elsewhere.

Dandachi’s voice is a voice that the world needs to hear.

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Some of Dandachi’s articles and interviews:

• His own website
• Observations of a Homsi living in Tartous, January 20, 2014
• Netanyahu’s Visit to Syrian Wounded Slammed by Rebels, Praised by Refugee; ‘There is Goodwill and Humanity on the Israeli Side’, February 22, 2014
• Why this Refugee from Syria Is Anti-BDS and Pro-Israel (voice), March 3,2015
• ISIS May Not Have Reached Canada, but the ISIS Mentality Has, July 23, 2014
• Dear Europe, Please Get Your Shit Together, July 29, 2014
• Malala Yousafzai and the Failure of Muslim Moderates, August 31, 2014
• From Homs to Istanbul The life of a displaced Syrian Part I (video), September 17, 2014]
• A Syrian Activist, calls on Obama “take your foot off the hose, so we can put out the Fire (video), September 19, 2014
• The Doctor, the eye Doctor, and me (book), 2014
• Three lessons learned from the Syrian conflict, December 4, 2014
• Fight extremism by buying Jewish newspapers, January 28, 2015
• Syrian activist: “Israel’s generosity towards Syrians proves that our conflict is not irreconcilable”, September 8, 2015
• ISIS, Paris Attacks & Europe’s Migrant Crisis with Syrian Refugee Aboud Dandachi (video), November 18, 2015