Overcoming hatred of a culture

Walid Shoebat learned early to hate Jewish people.

His family, his teachers, his church and his society taught him that Jews were animals, killers, evil.

He learned the lesson so well that as a boy he picked up rocks to throw at rabbis in prayer at the Wailing Wall.

Then he picked up Molotov cocktails. Then bombs.

Shoebat talked about the lessons the Palestinians taught him, and how he later taught himself a different lesson, Sunday night at the Simon Family Jewish Community Center.

The speech was sponsored by the Norfolk Area Community Kollel, a group of local rabbis.

Shoebat, who was born in Bethlehem, is a former member of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He now is a Christian and lives in the United States with his wife and children and travels the world speaking in support of Israel and the Jewish people, attempting to explain his ingrained hatred and how he overcame it.

The name Walid Shoebat is one he assumed.

Shoebat talked about growing up in a family and community that included allies of Adolf Hitler, where every song he sang and sermon he heard preached hate.

“What made me hate Jews? My religious upbringing,” he said. “What did you expect me to be? Did you expect me to become a peacemaker?”

He soon graduated from throwing rocks to writing graffiti on walls and attending demonstrations. Eventually he was making bombs and ended up in an Israeli prison. He watched a cousin get killed by Israeli soldiers.

In an effort to know his enemy better, he said, he undertook a pilgrimage into Israel. The things he saw, and the people he met, began a process of questioning.

“I committed the unpardonable sin – I started asking questions,” he said. “Who was this Jew I’ve hated all my life?”

He studied the Jewish language, religion and culture. He sang Jewish songs and claims he watched “Fiddler on the Roof” more than 300 times.

He was amazed to hear songs about God and angels, instead of vengeance and death. He began to admire the Jewish people.

“Exactly what are you people made of?” he asked. “I cannot fathom your love and patience.”

Since then, he has committed a worse sin in the eyes of Palestinians by speaking out.

In doing so, he hopes to use his experience to promote understanding, especially in his homeland.

“The trouble in the Middle East has nothing to do with oppression and poverty,” he said. “The trouble comes when loyalty comes before truth.”