A Scary Bus Ride From Beirut To Damascus

On June 7, 2013, Dennis Prager said: “I went to Syria in my mid-20s, but I didn’t announce. When they asked religion, on one of the Arab countries visa application, and I wrote, “Orthodox.” While I wasn’t an Orthodox Jew…
“This was a life-changing moment. I was on a bus from Beirut to Damascus. I was seated next to a man, the first Iraqi I had ever met. I talk to everybody. I love talking to strangers. This is why I didn’t think it was necessarily a good idea to invade Iraq.
“I said, ‘Sir, could you summarize the Iraqi people in a sentence?’ He said, ‘No problem. Iraqis are the most barbaric people in the world.’ You can imagine how I felt. That was chilling. But it got worse.
“He then said, ‘What’s your name?’ I said ‘Dennis.’ He said, ‘What’s your last name?’ I said, ‘Prager.’ And he said, ‘What are the origins of your last name?’ I knew what he was getting at. I said, ‘It’s a German word, which means from Prague. I assume I have German and Czech ancestors.’ He said, ‘Maybe so, but I think Prager is a Jewish name.’ There are many Pragers who are Jewish and many who aren’t, but he was obsessed with finding out if I was a Jew.”