Simon Sebag Montefiore

It's kind of bred into them over a thousand years.

Yeah, I mean, I think there's a huge challenge when people don't read as much as they used to. But, you know, the only way to do it is just to shed light on what really happened and to propagate the real history of it, which is complicated and interesting. And believe me, you know, Israel is far from faultless in it either, of course.

Yeah, I mean, I think there's a huge challenge when people don't read as much as they used to. But, you know, the only way to do it is just to shed light on what really happened and to propagate the real history of it, which is complicated and interesting. And believe me, you know, Israel is far from faultless in it either, of course.

Yeah, I mean, I think there's a huge challenge when people don't read as much as they used to. But, you know, the only way to do it is just to shed light on what really happened and to propagate the real history of it, which is complicated and interesting. And believe me, you know, Israel is far from faultless in it either, of course.

But history is not really a matter of heroes and villains, or very rarely it is. And this is certainly not a moment when that is the case. So a broadening of the history is essential. I also think another sort of approach to it is like it's an enormously hubristic arrogance to project the history of your own country onto distant countries. You know, Edward Said famously wrote about Orientalism.

But history is not really a matter of heroes and villains, or very rarely it is. And this is certainly not a moment when that is the case. So a broadening of the history is essential. I also think another sort of approach to it is like it's an enormously hubristic arrogance to project the history of your own country onto distant countries. You know, Edward Said famously wrote about Orientalism.

But history is not really a matter of heroes and villains, or very rarely it is. And this is certainly not a moment when that is the case. So a broadening of the history is essential. I also think another sort of approach to it is like it's an enormously hubristic arrogance to project the history of your own country onto distant countries. You know, Edward Said famously wrote about Orientalism.

and that the way that Westerners projected features and characteristics, good and bad, onto the Orient or the Arab world. But in fact, there is nothing so Orientalist as the phenomenon we're seeing now, where ignorant young people project

and that the way that Westerners projected features and characteristics, good and bad, onto the Orient or the Arab world. But in fact, there is nothing so Orientalist as the phenomenon we're seeing now, where ignorant young people project

and that the way that Westerners projected features and characteristics, good and bad, onto the Orient or the Arab world. But in fact, there is nothing so Orientalist as the phenomenon we're seeing now, where ignorant young people project

the experience of the history of their own, their own parochial country on the complex patchwork, ancient history, the multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian world, the meandering complexities of the Middle East, another region of which they know nothing, in which they apply the simplicities of really American racial history, which is simple because... slavery was a terrible thing.

the experience of the history of their own, their own parochial country on the complex patchwork, ancient history, the multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian world, the meandering complexities of the Middle East, another region of which they know nothing, in which they apply the simplicities of really American racial history, which is simple because... slavery was a terrible thing.

the experience of the history of their own, their own parochial country on the complex patchwork, ancient history, the multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian world, the meandering complexities of the Middle East, another region of which they know nothing, in which they apply the simplicities of really American racial history, which is simple because... slavery was a terrible thing.

And the racial history of the United States is an amazing story of emerging freedom, emerging triumph over racism. But the Middle East has more than two sides. It has many sides, many ethnicities. And you see that, I just saw a BBC reporter talking about Syria, clearly knowing nothing about the many ethnicities in Syria, which is

And the racial history of the United States is an amazing story of emerging freedom, emerging triumph over racism. But the Middle East has more than two sides. It has many sides, many ethnicities. And you see that, I just saw a BBC reporter talking about Syria, clearly knowing nothing about the many ethnicities in Syria, which is

And the racial history of the United States is an amazing story of emerging freedom, emerging triumph over racism. But the Middle East has more than two sides. It has many sides, many ethnicities. And you see that, I just saw a BBC reporter talking about Syria, clearly knowing nothing about the many ethnicities in Syria, which is

you know, with the fall of Assad, you know, ignoring the fact that there are Druze, there are Kurds, there are Christians, there are Assyrians, and many other sects in this region.

you know, with the fall of Assad, you know, ignoring the fact that there are Druze, there are Kurds, there are Christians, there are Assyrians, and many other sects in this region.

you know, with the fall of Assad, you know, ignoring the fact that there are Druze, there are Kurds, there are Christians, there are Assyrians, and many other sects in this region.

So we simply have to challenge these orthodoxies and challenge them aggressively rather than doing what we've done for the last 25 years, which is abandon them for the reason that we felt that these people were somehow virtuous.