This is a chapter of my life that I have barely told anyone about I just was trying to forget it but somehow it kind of caught up to me with all that's happening in the world. This is my first hand contact with Islam "The Religion of Peace" It is a true story although it sort of sometimes seems like I dreamed it. It happened when I lived in Israel 21 years ago. I was a volunteer in the Mishmar kibbutz which is kind of in the middle of Israel. That year they had had some negotiations with Jordan and they had reopened the border so that tourism from Israel would flow to Jordan, in those days having been to Israel made it impossible to go to Syria or Lebanon. Anyway, a friend from New York who was also in the kibbutz and I decided to go see Petra so we set off to Jordan. Everything was fine as our trip was beginning but my first shock as I crossed the border I had to pay 10 times what my friend from the States had to pay in British pounds which was a big shocker coming from a third world country means we always have to pay more to travel but anyways the thing is we went to hostel kind of house the thing that was very weird was you almost didn't see any women who weren't foreigners I only saw the women when they were serving us and then the owner was all over us we felt like it was dangerous but we kind of stuck to it as it was the cheapest and just hanged with some of the tourists there so that we wouldn't be on our own. Honestly, I didn't have it so bad at least I have brown hair but my friend is a really white blonde she was like a magnet to the men there, it was horrible. The day after we arrived we went hiking it was really nice but then we must have taken the wrong path we were foreigners and didn't actually know the place so we ended up in a no way out passage after hours of waiting some Bedouins who actually saved us and we obviously were very grateful so they invited us to visit them the next day when we went into Petra so we said we would and went back to the hostel where we had more harassment from the owner of the place; you know the kind of guy who just doesn't understand "NO" inviting us to tea and whatever after a while the guy finally left but it just reminded me of something my uncle and best friend told me when I was going to Europe which was: "to never be alone with an Arab as they were rapists and didn't understand "No", which, in deed was the case so I went to sleep a little worried that the guy was going to come back in the middle of the night or something... The next morning we get ready to go into Petra we go around the city, really a stunning place, a real wonder of the world like so many places in our amazing planet and at some point I'm not sure how this guy comes along and says if we want to go to the highest point where they did the sacrifices (as I write this I can't help to think how obvious it was but hey we wanted to see it all) we can hire a guide and we did and follow this guy for like two hours up the huge rock mountains and it's like dangerous up there cause it's like a lot of cliffs and it's so high it really is scary so we are walking and all of a sudden I turn around and I don't see my friend and I don't see the guide guy and I go "what the hell???" so I go back and I basically find the guy molesting my friend I don't know how I did it but I just grabbed her and started running all the way down to the Bedouin shack I think I did this in half a hour I was going so fast I just was not even thinking at this point just pure flight response I guess so we get there and I tell the this guide guy was going to rape my friend she's in total shock crying anyway they call the police we go in the police van around the city for more than ah hour looking for the guy ( by this time the guy had already changed his shirt and people there were hiding him) anyway my friend obviously recognizes him and they put the guys with us in the van and take us all "together" to the police station. When we arrive they take us to give our statements and stuff the guy disappears, we write down our statements and they say now you have to identify the guy and they bring this guy who could not stand up on his feet; two policemen had to hold him on each side, clearly he had been tortured...I mean at this point we were more than in shock and then they leave us there for like half and hour. They come back and tell us we have to go to trial therefore they're going to put us in a hotel approved by them for a month! We are taken to a much better hostel (that has to be said but I still don't know if that was kind of a bribe so that we wouldn't press charges or not who knows!) So, we are there; not allowed to leave the hotel for a month! I don't complain as I made good friends and actually had a really good time but hey, we were "imprisoned" in this hotel! Anyway, the day of the trial comes and we are sent a taxi to get us to the courthouse whose driver is begging us not to go through with it saying the guy is a good father and whatever in a way that was very scary kind of threatening us not to do it. We arrive at the courthouse and have to wait for hours asking if we have a translator with no answer from anyone. We ask that they contact the us embassy: no answer. Finally they get us into the court and they conduct a trial in Arabic obviously we didn't understand a single bit of what was going on, we had to swear on the Koran and I had to give my grandfather and father's name as follows: Lina of Humberto of Ariel and my testimony. Then the guy gives his and I could only hear: blah blah blah Allah blah blah blah Allah blah blah... you get the picture! Finally the thing ended and they told us: you are free to go he's been deported blah blah blah. What do I think now? I honestly don't believe he was deported for a second I think it was all a big theater for us! I think my uncle was right. Arabs do not understand "No" for an answer moreover they are actually encouraged by it. They view us westerners as trash and that's not going to change by us being nice to them. I think they should be left to themselves where they belong and we shouldn't be bringing them into our countries or we'll suffer the consequences like France, Germany, Sweden and now the US. While I understand the need for people to be good and try to help others in danger (Syrians) I don't think these people understand they way these people are, think and live which is completely different to our way of life and I ask you to please think twice in the kind of society you want to be living and protect it no matter what!