On Tuesday, Yehoshua Pfeffer wrote about how the war is bringing together the different sectors of Israeli Jewish society. But this newfound sense of unity applies to Israel’s non-Jews as well. Arab Israelis—horrified by the depredations of Hamas and well aware that the terrorists slaughtered, abused, and kidnapped Arab and Jew alike—have been setting aside their differences with their Jewish compatriots, and vice-versa. Likewise, the many tales of heroism that have emerged from October 7 include more than a few examples of extraordinary measures taken by Arabs to save their fellow Israelis.
Neville Teller focuses on statements made by two of Israel’s leading Arab politicians: Mansour Abbas, from whom such statements can be expected, and Ayman Odeh, who has often stoked pro-Palestinian sentiment among his constituents:
Referring to the “unfortunate, tragic, and reprehensible events” still in progress, [Abbas] called on the leadership of the Palestinian factions in Gaza to “release the captives in your hands. Islamic values command us not to imprison women, children, and the elderly.” A little later, when Hamas leaders began calling on Israel’s Arab citizens to join the fight, the Arab Knesset member Ayman Odeh responded angrily. In a media interview, he said: “Any call for militant actions and igniting a war between Arabs and Jews inside Israel is something we will not accept.” It quickly became clear that the two Arab Israeli politicians were speaking for the vast majority of their community.
An article in the Washington, DC-based outlet Al Monitor, although not excessively friendly to Israel, gives some heartening examples of present attitudes:
A resident of the Galilee Jewish community of Atzmon, two of whose residents were killed in the assault on southern Israeli communities, praised the support of her neighbors from the Arab town of Sakhnin. “Many stores ran out of water, but we found a grocery store in Sakhnin that gave us water and refused to accept payment,” she said. The grocer told her that since hearing about the horrors perpetrated by Hamas, he had been thinking of ways to help.
Such sentiments were reciprocated. A convoy of motorcycles and ambulances operated by a Jewish company accompanied the body of a resident of the village of Iksal, Awad Darawsheh, who was killed while working as a paramedic at a music festival on the Gaza border and was being brought for burial in his hometown.
Read more on Jerusalem Post: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-769843