She would hear patrons in her father’s restaurant rehashing such reports. “They would say, ‘It’s the Jews that cause all the problems. All we need to do is kill the Jews and we will have peace and we won’t have any problems.’ This is the atmosphere I was raised in.”

When her mother was seriously injured in 1982 during the war in Lebanon, Gabriel learned otherwise.

Gabriel, a journalist, Middle East correspondent, and founder of a group whose aim is to counter “radical Islamic fundamentalism,” discussed her epiphany Oct. 5 at a fund-raising event for the United Jewish Appeal of MetroWest NJ.

The event, Hineni: Here I Am — Women’s Campaign Day 2007, held at the Pleasantdale Chateau in West Orange, attracted 150 women who have each pledged at least $1,000 to UJA.

Gabriel, author of Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America, gave a harrowing account of life under Palestinian rule in Lebanon.

When her town fell victim to bomb attacks in 1975, she said, “that was my 9/11. I learned at an early age that I was wanted dead simply because I was born into the Christian faith.”

With the family’s house destroyed, Gabriel and her parents lived in a bomb shelter from the time she was 10 until she was 17, facing death every day. The effects of having witnessed incidents of atrocities are constant companions, she said.

“I think the biggest disservice the American media did to the American public was to not show the face of barbarism that’s coming our way [through] the beheading of [journalist] Daniel Pearl and [businessman] Nick Berg,” she said. “I think America and the West need to realize what kind of enemy we are dealing with.”

When her mother was wounded by a shell fired by Muslim fighters in 1982, Gabriel undertook the hazardous journey to bring her to an Israeli hospital. Gabriel, then 17, was moved by the care given to her mother and even more by that given to wounded members of the Palestinian militia who ended up in the hospital.

“The doctors treated everyone according to their injury,” she said. “They did not see religion, political affiliation, or nationality. They saw people in need and they helped.”

She painted a particularly gruesome picture of the treatment she suspects Israeli soldiers would face at the hands of Arab forces.

“I knew that if I was a Jew in any hospital in the Arab world, I would be lynched and thrown down to my death as shouts of joy would echo through the surrounding streets,” she said.

Gabriel returned to Israel three years later to begin her career as a journalist. “It was the most incredible experience, being able to report the news…and [give] information that was not filtered through Arab propaganda.”

According to her official bio, she began her career at Middle East Television, a Cyprus-based affiliate of the Christian Broadcasting Network, and was production coordinator in southern Lebanon for Germany’s ARD public broadcasting network.

She moved to the United States in 1989, and in 2002 founded the American Congress for Truth, whose mission is “to inform, educate, inspire, motivate, network, and empower millions of uninformed Americans about the threat of militant fundamentalist Islam to America, Israel, and Western civilization.”

“This is the time we need to stand up together to defeat Islamic fascism and ideology filled with hatred and intolerance,” she told her West Orange audience. “This is the time we all need to stand up by the State of Israel and defend and support Israel with everything we can because Israel is on the front line of fighting this war on terrorism.

“Actions speak louder than words. It is by our actions that our children, that our peers, that our friends will know where we stand.”

Following the program, Gabriel told NJ Jewish News that addressing Jewish groups such as this was not “preaching to the choir.”

“Sometimes our own people need to be inspired and motivated. We assume that just because they are Jewish, they are gung-ho committed to Israel…. Most of the time I find it’s the absolute opposite. Apathy is in our ranks because people think somebody else is going to do it.”

Donors need to hear inspiring stories about the causes they support, she added. “The people who do not support Israel also need to hear such stories, that Israel does a lot of good not only to Jews but also to other people.”

During the Hineni program, Lois Lautenberg of Upper Montclair received the Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award in recognition of her “meritorious service to the community.”

“I always say how fortunate I am to be part of this MetroWest Jewish community,” Lautenberg said. “I’ve learned through the Women’s Department that when you work together, you can achieve so much more.”