The Ask Project: What Do Israelis and Palestinians Really Think?

by Nomad

Canadian-born Corey Gil-Shuster isn't what most people would consider an activist. He is just very curious.

With his YouTube channel, The Ask Project, he conducts one-to-one interviews with Jewish, Israeli Arabs, and Palestinian peoples to find out what they think on a particular subject. 

The responses are always interesting and sometimes counter-intuitive.

As Gil-Shuster explained to The Jerusalem Post:

“I don’t really care about leaders...  I want the guy selling bread, I want the regular guy who sells oranges... they are part of society, too.” 

Too often, says Gil-Shuster, those opinions and beliefs are ignored "unless they can serve a specific purpose or agenda." His quest to understand people takes him into the streets, the markets, the cafes, the offices, the malls, the tiny shops, and even into people's homes.

As the article points out:

He typically spends his weekends and his own money traveling all over Israel and the Palestinian territories – often with public transportation – to present his questions to as wide a demographic as possible to give the audience the best possible samples.

All of the questions originate from the viewers and all answers are included and unedited.

Here is a video asking Israelis the question: Would you have an Arab roommate?

And here is the same question for Israeli Arabs:  Would you have an Israeli roommate? 

(When I watched that, I questioned whether I could stand having a conservative Republican flatmate. I really doubt it.)

Another question, this one is more provocative, for Israelis: On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you hate Palestinians?

Then Palestinians were asked how much they hated Israel. 

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