Arab Israelis torn between sympathy for Hamas's victims and for Gazans - opinion

Many Arab citizens of Israel say they are afraid to say anything about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Some who did express their views or express sympathy with the civilians killed in Gaza were fired from their jobs or questioned by Israeli security.

“Palestinian citizens of Israel are dealing with a crackdown on freedom of expression, specifically on social media posts and anything that has to do with the war and the situation in Gaza,” Adi Mansour, a lawyer for Adalah, an NGO that fights for equality for Arabs and Jews in Israel, told The Jerusalem Report. “Right now, Adalah is monitoring 120 cases of students from 33 academic institutions in Israel – that is, universities and private colleges – that have started disciplinary procedures against students for posting on social media on different platforms and on different subjects.”

As an example, Tareq Taha, an editor at the Arabic news site Arab48 and student at the Technion in Haifa, was arrested after posting a video with a picture of the Palestinian flag, the word “resisting,” and the picture of Israeli civilians carrying guns. He has no criminal record but was arrested on suspicion of disturbing the peace and conspiring to commit an offence. After a few days, he was released without charges.

Many Arab citizens of Israel say they do not support Hamas or the attacks of October 7 that killed some 1,200 people. But they also say they have sympathy for the thousands of civilians killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza and the growing humanitarian crisis.

Even before the Hamas attack on Israel, there had been tensions between Jewish citizens and Arab citizens, who make up 20 percent of the population in Israel. In May 2021 in a previous conflict with Hamas, riots broke out between Jews and Arabs in mixed cities. Three people were killed, and hundreds of synagogues and shops were burned.

This time, despite a war of more than three months and a soaring death toll in Gaza, there has been no violence between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel. But many Israeli Palestinian activists, some of whom have relatives in Gaza, say they are struggling because of the war.

“We have a moral responsibility to show empathy to the victims of October 7,” said Israeli Arab Knesset member Mansour Abbas. “But we also have sympathy for the civilian victims in Gaza. This complexity means we must choose the right words, in the right way, and in the right place. We can’t ignore people’s pain and distress and fear.”

A torn Arab Israeli identity

Abbas was speaking at a conference titled “Toward a Shared Society,” sponsored by the Givat Haviva Institute. Mohammed Darawshe, the director of planning, equality and shared society at the Givat Haviva Educational Center, said that while Arab citizens of Israel identify with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, they see their future within the State of Israel.

“Our day after [the war in Gaza ends] is different from the day after of the Palestinians,” he said. “Hopefully, the day after for the Palestinians is having an independent Palestinian state. Our day after is to continue living in Israeli society, and we want that to be equal integration. We want full integration with Israeli Jews; in addition to equality, we need to maintain good relations with Israeli Jews. Balancing that during normal days is difficult; balancing that during war days is very, very difficult.”

Some Israeli Arabs are uncomfortable with the wave of militarism that has swept Israel. The slogan “Yachad Nenatze’ach” (Together We Will Win) is everywhere, from being stamped on eggs to the billboard over the highway. Israeli flags, with their Star of David which many Arabs in Israel do not identify with, have proliferated everywhere. 

The war has also highlighted the importance of the army in Israel. Jewish students (except for the ultra-Orthodox) are required to serve in the army, while Arab students are exempt. There has been a growing number of Arab citizens of Israel volunteering to do National Service (an alternative for Jews to military service), but very few except for Bedouin and Druze serve in the army.

Some Arab citizens say they are nervous about speaking Arabic in public, and others say that even Jewish colleagues whom they know well have made anti-Arab remarks. They say that Jews in Israel see them as a potential fifth column.

At the Givat Haviva conference, war cabinet member Benny Gantz listed several Arab citizens of Israel who had saved Jews on October 7. Arabs were also among those who were kidnapped and killed in the Hamas invasion on October 7. “Solidarity [between Jews and Arab] exists and showed itself in a time of trouble. Our job is to develop it and not let extremists harm it,” said Gantz, who many believe could be Israel’s next prime minister.

There are also indications that Arab citizens of Israel are moving closer to the Jewish mainstream. A comprehensive study conducted after the war began by the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at Tel Aviv University found that almost half of surveyed Arab Israelis support Israel’s response to the Hamas attack. But Arab citizens of Israel also want to see an end to the civilian suffering in Gaza.  ■