Today I was in Melbourne CBD to cover two protests for TR News. There was a Vietnamese rally against Communist China and a vegan protest – great videos to follow.
But while I was filming at the Vietnamese rally, an older gentleman approached me, asking if I was Lebanese.
While I'm laughing at the situation, I'm glad it happened so I get the chance to show you guys something that people find hard to understand.
People often don't believe me when I tell them that the Arab world is extremely racist and bigoted. People find it hard to believe that the entire Muslim world shares blind hate for the only Jewish state.
This bloke was excited when he thought I was a fellow Arab journalist from Lebanon, and he was even happy to give his blessings to Australia, which is good. But mention Israel, suddenly he can't speak; "because he's a journalist".
The truth is, he can't speak because he knows how bigoted his views would sound to most Australians. But even if he didn't hate Israel, he knows that if he did dare praise the Jewish state – he would never be able to return to Iraq. He'd be a marked man.
But I assume he was biting his tongue for the first reason because a few minutes later my camera accidentally caught him taking photos of me.
Posted from TR.News with SteemPress : https://www.tr.news/full-of-hate-iraqi-journalist/