Brigitte Gabriel

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Brigitte Gabriel (born 1965) is a Lebanese American journalist, author and activist. She is the founder of the American Congress For Truth.

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[edit] Early life

Brigitte Gabriel was born in 1965 in Lebanon to a Maronite Christian family.

Gabriel has said that during the Lebanese Civil War Muslim militants launched an assault on a Lebanese military base near Gabriel's house and bombed her home, collapsing it. Just ten years old at the time, Brigitte was severely injured and spent 2 1/2 months in a hospital recovering.

Gabriel says that she and her parents were forced to live in a 8x10 bomb shelter underground for seven years with no heat, running water and little food. To get water she had to crawl underground to a spring in a ditch. Before they left they said prayers, because they did not know if they would come back alive.

Later, in 1978, a man warned Brigitte’s family of an impending attack on Christians by Islamic militias. She claims her life was saved that night when Israelis invaded Lebanon in Operation Litani. Later, her mother was seriously injured and was taken to an Israeli hospital where Brigitte noted the humanity of the Israelis in contrast to the propaganda she had viewed as a child.[1]

[edit] Career

Brigitte Gabriel was a news anchor for "World News," an evening news program on the South Lebanon Army-affiliated Middle East Television, that was broadcast weeknights throughout Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Cyprus and Lebanon.Front page mag article on Brigitte Gabriel She immigrated to the United States in 1989. Gabriel founded the ACT, "American Congress For Truth," in late 2001. She has appeared on news and information TV shows, talk radio and made numerous public speaking engagements. She speaks four languages: Arabic, French, English and Hebrew.

She is featured in the documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West.

She was interviewed on CNN where she denounced Hezbollah and sided with Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis, thanking Israel for their efforts in her home country.

She has also accused CAIR of supporting terrorism.[2]

The Official Website of Hasbara Fellowships, IsraelActivism.com, lists Gabriel as one of its Hasbara Fellowship speakers, and arranges speaking engagements for those interested in contacting her. [3]

Gabriel spoke as part of a lecture series organized by Duke University's Jewish community to provide counter-programming after the fourth Palestinian Solidarity Movement student conference was held there in October 2004. She angered many members of the crowd when she referred to Arabs as "barbarians" and Duke's Freeman Center for Jewish Life later apologized for her comments.[4]

Gabriel has written a book entitled, "Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America". In the book she responds to the incident at Duke University:

"When I gave a speech at Duke University in 2004 condemning suicide bombers and the culture that nurtures them, saying, 'The difference between the Arab world and Israel is a difference in values and character. It's barbarism versus civilization. It's dictatorship versus democracy. It's evil versus goodness,' I was criticized and condemned. Duke's Freeman Center for Jewish Life apologized for my comments to the same Arabs who supported the killing of innocent civilians and were unwilling to criticize and condemn terrorism."[5]

[edit] Quotes

"The difference, my friends, between Israel and the Arab world is the difference between civilization and barbarism. It's the difference between good and evil [applause].... this is what we're witnessing in the Arabic world, They have no SOUL !, they are dead set on killing and destruction. And in the name of something they call "Allah" which is very different from the God we believe....[applause] because our God is the God of love." - Bridgette Gabriel, CUFI 2007[6]

[edit] Books by Brigitte Gabriel

[edit] Because They Hate

(2006-09-05) Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312358377. 

In her first book Gabriel discusses her experiences as a Maronite Christian living in Lebanon during the civil war between Lebanese Christians and Muslims in the 1970s. She describes the story of her family and her childhood, allegedly hiding in a bomb shelter. She details her opinions that the inherent multiculturalist tolerance of the Lebanese Christians led to the Lebanon's ruin under the continuous attacks of Muslims determined to destroy the non-believer communities.[citation needed]

The book made the The New York Times hardcover best seller list.[7]

[edit] They Must Be Stopped

 This article or section contains information regarding scheduled, forthcoming or expected future book(s).
The content may change as the book release approaches and more information becomes available.
Books

(2008-08-19) They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312383633. 

Gabriel's second book is scheduled for release on 19 August 2008.

[edit] Articles and speeches

[edit] Interviews and TV appearances

[edit] Citations

  1. ^ Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America. Heritage Live - Events. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved on 2008-03-09. “Brigitte Gabriel lost her childhood to militant Islam.” – speaker profile from lecture series
  2. ^ Because They Hate
  3. ^ Hasbara Fellowships Speakers Bureau - IsraelActivism.com
  4. ^ How not to have a dialogue - Columns
  5. ^ Google books
  6. ^ Wilson, Bruce (2007-08-15). McCain and Lieberman Frolic At CUFI's Festival Of Hate. Talk to Action. Retrieved on 2008-03-09. “Bridgette Gabriel's diatribe, painting a wide swath of humanity as subhuman, would have been well at home in Goebbel's Reich and should have been denounced for the hate speech that is was rather than sanctioned by the presence of national politicians and presidential candidates.”
  7. ^ Hardcover Best Seller List. The New York Times Books. The New York Times Company (2006-11-17). Retrieved on 2008-03-09. “The author (who describes herself as an Arab Christian and victim of radical Islam) presents her view of terrorism.”

[edit] External links

[edit] Video

[edit] See also