An Egyptian student who was convicted of having “indecent ideas” for supporting gay rights has released a YouTube video supporting Israel.

Sherif Gaber, a former sociology student who went into hiding after being sentenced to a year of hard labor for “contempt for religion” and “dissemination of indecent ideas,” has released a series of videos “to encourage freedom of speech and help people think and present to them alternative viewpoints,” as he told the website Cairoscene last week. His latest video, which criticizes Arab hatred of Israel, has already garnered 90,000 views since being posted on Monday.

In the video, Gaber points out that claims of Jewish “colonization” of Palestine are very similar to the Islamic conquest of Coptic Egypt. He also praises Israeli developments in technology, agriculture, and education, and points out the hypocrisy of Arab countries criticizing Israel’s human rights record – Gaber calls Israel “the best country for women in the Middle East. If you’re a woman, [it’s] the safest country for you in the Middle East to live in.”

Last month, an Egyptian-born student gave the commencement speech at Tel Aviv University, in which he hailed Israel’s diversity.

[Photo: Sherif Gaber / YouTube ]