Dear Chaim,
I have a question about the Torah passage concerning Ishmael: "And he shall be a wild man; his hand against his brothers and his brothers' hands against him."
The take I have on this passage is that since Ishmael was the patriarch of the arabs, and he was a wild man, so too would his descendants be wild men. And we have seen that. The arabs are wild men, engaging in the most repulsive types of animalistic behaviour. Subjugation, murder, mutilation, are part of the arab mentality. I've even seen videos of arabs engaging in cannibalism.
So I guess my question is two-fold: is arab behaviour entirely explained by this passage in Beresheet, and does this passage prohibit the arabs from overcoming their nature? Must the arabs behave in this way? Is it even possible for them to become decent people? Or does this passage condemn them to evil behaviour in perpetuity?
Thanks,
Zachor_ve_kavod.