Qanta Ahmed, an Anglo-American physician and writer and an outspoken opponent of Islamism, recently received an award from an Israeli university. She talks about the nature of radical Islam, the failure of the United States to confront it properly, and her own experiences in Israel. (Interview by Dror Eydar):

When I heard President Obama’s speech in Cairo in 2009, I thought it was a shame that a speech like this was not given by a Muslim leader in Cairo about the need for engagement with the U.S. Also, the prominence of the Palestinian issue on the president’s agenda annoys so many Muslims from other regions, like from Bangladesh. There are over a billion Muslims who do not live in the Middle East and do not list the Palestinian issue as their top priority. Yet I do not wish the Palestinians ill. I am as pro-Palestinian as I am pro-Zionist. . . .

I found myself on one of my visits to Israel . . . in an elevator at Hadassah [hospital in Jerusalem]. I was with a very busy doctor, and I looked around the small, packed elevator. What I saw around me was a Muslim lady in a hijab, next to her a man who looked as if he was from the 18th century—with a striped jacket, white socks, and a special hat—and next to him . . . a man with peyot. In front of me was the busy modern-Orthodox doctor. I, the Muslim, am the one who looks secular.

And I realized that all my worlds—the people I used to treat [when I worked] in Saudi Arabia, the Orthodox patients and doctors I encounter in New York, my modern-Orthodox friends, Israelis living in America—all of my worlds collided in this elevator. And they don’t collide anywhere else. It is little moments like that in which you can’t help becoming a Zionist.

On Tuesday, representatives of Hamas met with their counterparts from Fatah—the faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) once led by Yasir Arafat that now governs parts of the West Bank—in Beijing to discuss possible reconciliation. While it is unlikely that these talks will yield any more progress than the many previous rounds, they constitute a significant step in China’s increasing attempts to involve itself in the Middle East on the side of Israel’s enemies.

By contrast, writes Tuvia Gering, Taiwan has been quick and consistent in its condemnations of Hamas and Iran and its expressions of sympathy with Israel:

Support from Taipei goes beyond words. Taiwan’s appointee in Tel Aviv and de-facto ambassador, Abby Lee, has been busy aiding hostage families, adopting the most affected kibbutzim in southern Israel, and volunteering with farmers. Taiwan recently pledged more than half a million dollars to Israel for critical initiatives, including medical and communications supplies for local municipalities. This follows earlier aid from Taiwan to an organization helping Israeli soldiers and families immediately after the October 7 attack.

The reasons why are not hard to fathom:

In many ways, Taiwan sees a reflection of itself in Israel—two vibrant democracies facing threats from hostile neighbors. Both nations wield substantial economic and technological prowess, and both heavily depend on U.S. military exports and diplomacy. Taipei also sees Israel as a “role model” for what Taiwan should aspire to be, citing its unwavering determination and capabilities to defend itself.

On a deeper level, Taiwanese leaders seem to view Israel’s war with Hamas and Iran as an extension of a greater struggle between democracy and autocracy.

Gering urges Israel to reciprocate these expressions of friendship and to take into account that “China has been going above and beyond to demonize the Jewish state in international forums.” Above all, he writes, Jerusalem should “take a firmer stance against China’s support for Hamas and Iran-backed terrorism, exposing the hypocrisy and repression that underpin its vision for a new global order.”