Arab Israelis express solidarity with victims of Hamas attack

Analysis

Afif Abu Much

Oct 16, 2023

IDF soldiers move through neighborhoods destroyed by Hamas militants after they attacked this kibbutz days earlier near the border of Gaza on October 15, 2023 in Kfar Aza, Israel. Israel has sealed off Gaza and launched sustained retaliatory air strikes, which have killed at least 1,400 people with more than 400,000 displaced, after a large-scale attack by Hamas. On October 7, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel from Gaza by land, sea, and air, killing over 1,300 peopl — IDF soldiers move through neighborhoods destroyed by Hamas militants after they attacked this kibbutz days earlier near the border of Gaza on October 15, 2023 in Kfar Aza, Israel. Israel has sealed off Gaza and launched sustained retaliatory air strikes, which have killed at least 1,400 people with more than 400,000 displaced, after a large-scale attack by Hamas. — Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

BAQA AL-GHARBIYYE, Israel — Israel’s 21% Arab minority is demonstrating solidarity with victims of Hamas' brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel. This is despite attempts by some in the right-wing government and media to question their loyalty and incite anger against them.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, for example, said he had instructed police to prepare for a scenario similar to the bloody rioting in mixed Jewish-Arab communities during Israel’s bitter May 2021 clash with Gaza’s Islamic Jihad. Instead, not only are the streets of Arab towns and neighborhoods calm, but there is an outpouring of aid and solace running the gamut from offers to host Jews forced out of their homes in the south to donations of food and clothing.

Arabs were also killed, abducted and injured in the cruel Hamas raid and the organization’s relentless rocket barrages that reached deep into Israeli territory over the past week. Some 16 members of the Negev Bedouin community have reportedly been killed and 40 are missing.

But that is not the reason for the solidarity of this often discriminated against minority with their Jewish neighbors. Unlike the events of May 2021, the “Black Saturday” Hamas onslaught was not sparked by religious tensions over Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and Temple Mount. And despite the surprise evinced by many Israelis at the Arab community’s support, Arab Israelis are determined to distance themselves from the barbaric Hamas acts being compared to those of the Islamic State.