Page 16 - TORCH Magazine #17 - Autumn 2020

crew with us and the security approval. But I never knew I had the fear of heights till then. It was scary in that open space above 80 floors.”
To her surprise, Ronny was also frightened of heights. “I told Ronny, don’t worry, let’s do it. I said those little words and held her hand. We went closer to the edge. We stood there and she became confident enough.”
It took about half an hour for them to get what they thought were the perfect shots of both of them facing Burj Khalifa with their backs draped in the flags. But when the pictures came out, Norah said she noticed that in one of the pictures they were still holding hands and smiling at each other
to reassure themselves. It ended up being the perfect picture to demonstrate the friendship between the two nations.
After the photo by Abdullah (@dubai.uae. dxb) was posted online, it went viral after being shared by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ivanka Trump. “Peace for Peace creates new friends in the Middle East,” tweeted Netanyahu alongside the photo. Despite being targeted by haters on social media, Norah has become an outspoken advocate of the Abraham Accords and peace with Israel.
“Peace starts with the politicians and continues with the youth,” Norah said in a tweet. “As I said, our leaders make peace and we need to carry it forward through our young siblings and children in the future. They need to know that it is okay to make peace. There is no harm in trusting and respecting other countries, cultures and religions.”
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Norah and Ronny at a Sukkah in Dubai (Twitter)
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“Why exclude the Jews?”
Transcript of social media video by Norah Alawadhi
“The peace agreement for me means that we can unite
the peoples. That we can make peace between peoples, not only as a political bridge. To be a bridge between the nations. Not only between the politicians and diplomats; that stage is over. We need to move onto the next step.
We in the Emirates have
over 200 nationalities, so why make peace with all of them, but exclude the Israelis and
the Jews? On the contrary, welcome, may God bless you. This country is your second home. For me this is just a relationship. It involves trust, respect and recognition of the cultures. The Israeli people and Jewish community are open to learn about us the Emiratis. And we as young Emiratis, we have the desire and respect to learn more about Israel and Judaism. I have never had an Israeli friend or even Jewish friends, not even one. But when the talk about the agreement began I wanted to get to know the Israelis and Jews better. I feel lucky that
the friends and group that we were with felt as if they were
my brothers and sisters. I felt like they were family and this
is something indescribable. If I could describe the feelings in words, I would have long ago, but I can’t. You need to be here where I am to feel what I’m feeling. And that’s it. Thank you very much and shalom be upon you.”