Dear Friend of Israel, Friend of FLAME:

When we discuss great colonial powers, we usually think of Europeans—Britain, Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal. But often overlooked are some of the world’s most brutal—and successful—colonizers: Arab Muslims.

Indeed, what started as the unlikely dream of a single Arab—Islam’s founder, Mohammed— expanded into a mighty empire. While today the power and influence of Mohammed’s conquests have diminished, Arab Muslims still today control some 9% of the world’s land mass and 470 million of the world’s 8.3 billion people.

Not only did the religion of Islam obligate Arabs to conquer non-Muslim lands and impose Islam on subjugated peoples, they pursued their mission ruthlessly. Inspired Islamic warriors marched out of their Arabian Peninsula homeland with a goal of bloody conquest.

Over the centuries, the Arab-Muslim march spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, marked by numerous atrocities—from destruction of indigenous cultural, religious and linguistic communities to the slaughter of native people who resisted Muslims’ imperial religious fervor.  Conquered peoples were required to convert to Islam or die—often by mass executions and beheading.

For hundreds of years, Arab-Muslims were also among the greatest practitioners of slavery.

How ironic that the Arab Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recently referred to Israel’s presence in tits ancient Jewish homeland using the popular, but wildly erroneous epithet popularized by radical academics—a “settler colonial project.”

In fact, the history of the Jews is entirely anti-colonial—a 3,000-year resistance to Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Crusader, Arab, Turk and finally British colonizers. What’s more, when Jews returned in numbers to their indigenous homeland, they never seized land owned or controlled by another people, nor did they conquer another people or impose exploitative colonial rule over them.  Finally, Israel’s land mass makes up one of the tiniest nations in the Middle East—about the size of New Jersey, with only 10 million citizens.

Curiously, Westerners rarely apply the terms “colonialism” and “imperialism” to Arabs or Muslims, though the land they control is far larger than Europe or the United States.  Likewise, Arab-Muslim colonial expansion had the same devastating effects on native populations as Western colonization, though Arab Muslim colonialism was sometimes even more brutal.

Islam inspired Arab colonialism. The Quran commanded the Arabs to “Fight those who do not believe in Allah” and “kill the polytheists wherever you find them,” unless they repent, pray, and pay zakat (alms). Inspired by Islam, the Arabs conquered vast swathes of territory on three continents. In just over a century, the Arabs took control of all of North Africa, the entire Middle East, the Iberian Peninsula, and large parts of Central and South Asia.

Arab colonialism was cruel and destructive. Like Western colonialism, Arab colonialism involved heinous atrocities, including mass murder. One of the worst massacres occurred in 633 CE in what is now present-day Iraq. Arab forces brutally slaughtered thousands of prisoners by beheading them next to a riverbank, causing the river to flow with blood, earning the battle the name, River of Blood massacre.

Another infamous massacre occurred in Istakhr, a major Zoroastrian center in present-day Iran. Arab forces sacked the city and murdered approximately 40,000 people.

Indeed, the Arabs also laid waste to many cultural, religious and linguistic communities. Adherents of Zoroastrianism, for example, who once dominated Iran, became a tiny minority, as did Coptic Christians in Egypt. Ancient languages like Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke, were replaced by Arabic and rendered all-but-extinct.

The robust Arab slave trade. Like Western colonizers, the Arabs enslaved many of their victims, but whereas the Western slave trade lasted just three centuries, the Arab slave trade lasted for over a millennium. Slavery remained legal in Qatar until 1952 and in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the UAE until the Sixties.

Per Islamic doctrine, only non-Muslims captured in jihad (holy war) or born to enslaved parents could be legally enslaved. Male slaves were routinely castrated, often leading to death, while female slaves were subject to sexual exploitation as concubines. While not unique—since slavery existed globally—the Arab slave trade’s longevity, scale, and specific cruelties make it one of history’s most appalling.

Labeling Israel “colonialist” inverts—and mocks—historical truth. Few peoples have battled colonialists longer—or more successfully—than the Jews. For instance, in the 1^st century CE, Jews launched their Great Revolt against the Roman Empire, which occupied present-day Israel. The revolt was crushed, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem destroyed, and Jews were exiled from their homeland for nearly two millennia. Nevertheless, they always remained determined to return to their ancestral homeland and reclaim their independence—no wonder the prayer most Jews say every Passover: “Next year in Jerusalem.”

Finally, in 1948, the Jews re-established their independence in the Land of Israel. Doing so, however, required decades of struggle against colonial powers, including the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, and the Arabs, who were adamant that Israel remain part of their “Arab world.” Israel’s history since independence has been defined by its struggle against Arab, Muslim states determined to destroy it and restore Muslim colonial rule.

Unlike the Arab conquerors of old, Israel has never sought to subjugate other peoples or rule over the lands of others. In fact, whenever Israelis seized territory in wars initiated by the Arabs, they offered to exchange it for peace. Thus, Israel returned Sinai to Egypt, and also offered the Palestinians land for their own state, though the Palestinians never had sovereignty in the region. Seeking to emulate their Arab forebears, the Palestinians have rejected all offers by Israel to share “Palestine,” seeking rather to expel the Jews.

The Middle East’s real occupiers are the Arabs. Whereas the Arabs once ruled only the Arabian Peninsula, they now rule over all of North Africa and almost the entire Middle East. No activists, however, chant, “End the Arab Occupation,” nor do today’s “scholars” call Arabs colonizers. Instead, such slanders are reserved for Israel, a Jewish state whose presence is confined to the original Jewish homeland. You can’t “occupy” or “colonize” your own indigenous homeland.

When talking with friends, family and colleagues—and in letters to the editor—please make the point that the real “settler colonial project” in the Middle East and North Africa is the vast empire the Arabs created after their centuries of conquest, mass murder and exploitation. In contrast, Israel is a country liberated by its indigenous people from Arabs and other earlier colonial powers.

If you agree we need to spread this truth, please use your email browser to forward this Hotline issue to fellow lovers of Israel—and encourage them to join us by subscribing to the Hotline at no charge.

Best regards,
James Sinkinson, President
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)

P.S.      Surely, you’ve recently read of some celebrity, politician, radical student, foreign head of state or media pundit slander Israel with the “Gaza genocide” lie. Many who spread this lie are ignorant, but most are anti-Israel haters. They care nothing for the truth. The tragedy is, when they utter the Gaza genocide falsehood, too few knowledgeable people—and virtually no media—stand up to refute it. Indeed, when you share the simple facts, the genocide lie crumbles. Upon learning that Israel conducts its war against Hamas terrorists with the highest ethical standards—and that nothing Israel does in Gaza fits the definition of genocide—fair-minded people quickly see through the lie. I hope you’ll agree that we supporters of the Israel-U.S. relationship need to speak out. FLAME’s new hasbarah—explanatory message—“Facts Shatter Gaza Genocide Lies”—describes what genocide is and is not and proves factually that Israel’s tactics in the war are ethical and righteous. It also reveals demographic data showing that the Palestinian population in Gaza is actually increasing. Finally, it notes that those who spread the Gaza genocide lie fit the classic definition of antisemites. Please review this convincing, fact-based editorial, which FLAME is about to publish to millions—in leading social media, as well as in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Tampa Bay Times, Denver Post and Los Angeles Times. This piece will also be sent to all members of Congress, the President and Vice President. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel’s behalf is critical, I urge you to support us with a donation.