He was born in the Arab quarter of Jerusalem. He says his family lived there, as Christians, since the time of the Crusades. He and his family are (or at least were) Israeli citizens. He and his immediate family eventually decided to get out and come to America, where they live today. (They became citizens two years ago.)

Although he doesn’t like the Israeli government very much, he doesn’t have anything nice to say about Hamas either. He wants a peaceful resolution, just as much as the Israeli citizens do. We discuss politics on many occasions, and I’ve never once heard him say a hateful word about Jews or Israelis.

I’m not so naïve as to believe that all Christian Arabs are like my coworker, but I also can’t believe he’s the only one with a good heart. (Of course, it may well be that most of the good ones fled the country years ago, and most of those remaining are the bad apples. I don’t have enough facts to know if this is true or not.)

The real religion of tolerance is next door, in Israel. When Israel regained the Temple Mount, they did not destroy the mosques on top of it, nor did they destroy anything outside of the buildings the Arabs put next to the Kotel Wall. And those weren’t holy buildings, just residences.

Then again, I’m preaching to the choir here.