Meet an Arab who stands for Israel
There is often a belief that Jewish people and certain Christians are the only groups who stand with Israel. Yet there is also third, admittedly smaller, group of pro-Israel voices.
Their support is not the result of religious persuasion or ethnic connection, but rather a conviction that the Jews have the right to the land and their personal experience as citizens of a minority group living in the land of Israel.
They are the Arabs who stand for Israel.
Twenty-year-old Yahya Mahamid is one of those voices. Mahamid identifies himself as an Arab Israeli Muslim Zionist – a proud one at that. As an educator for StandWithUs, an international Israeli education organisation, he travels across the globe representing StandWithUs speaking tours to educate individuals around the world about the realities and the challenges of life in Israel.
Mahamid was not always an advocate for Israel. Raised in Umm al-Fahm, Israel's third largest Arab town, he remembers the soundtrack of his childhood as “a study in hatred,” filled with libel and indoctrination that paints Israel as an oppressive regime that tramples on the dreams of Arabs like him. “They fed me lies,” he says. “They told me Jews would treat me differently, that Israel would deal with me as a lessor citizen because I am Arab.”
“I believed those lies,” he shares in a video for StandWithUs. “I was taught to hate Israel. But I overcame the hatred.”
The change of heart did not happen overnight. Aged 17, Mahamid left home to work in a Tel Aviv hotel alongside his supposed Jewish oppressors. Yet, to his astonishment, those he had been told would scorn him because of his Arab heritage, welcomed him with open arms, offering friendship. And those who would allegedly trample on an Arab's dreams were the ones who urged him on to success.
The turning point came in 2014, when terrorists kidnapped three Israeli teenagers. The realisation that the victims could have been his friends prompted Mahamid to speak out – and inadvertently launched him on a path of advocacy. Participating in an online campaign, Mahamid posted a picture of himself holding an Israeli flag. Within moments, his post had garnered major attention on social media, including numerous death threats. “The Arab media distributed the picture,” he remembers, “and from that moment, my life was in danger and I was no longer safe on the streets in my town.”
A lot has happened in the years since the Arab Israeli Muslim Zionist took a stand for the first time. The young man who once hated Israel is now one of its most ardent spokespeople. “I am a proud Israeli,” he told the South African Jewish Report. “Whenever anti-Israel people spread lies, like that Israel is an “apartheid” state, they use my name… to destroy the only place I call home.”
According to Mahamid, the Arab media and anti-Israel organisations like the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement have done a “fantastic job” of distorting the truth by selling a pro-Palestinian victim narrative to an international audience obsessed with human rights and social justice. Yet all too often, those who speak out loudest against Israel are victims of misinformation and propaganda.
“Many Arabs and BDS activists I speak to internationally have never met an Israeli – let alone an Arab Israeli Muslim Zionist. My question to them is simple: “You are anti-Zionist. Can you tell me what that means?”
Most of them cannot. I find that tragic, to stand against something so vehemently without knowing what you stand against.”
The truth is simple, he says. “Israel is the best country for Arabs living in the Middle East. Currently, there are roughly two million Arabs in this region who enjoy the full extent of their civil and human rights. Those two million Arabs are Israeli citizens.”
ILSE STRAUSS
Their support is not the result of religious persuasion or ethnic connection, but rather a conviction that the Jews have the right to the land and their personal experience as citizens of a minority group living in the land of Israel.
They are the Arabs who stand for Israel.
Twenty-year-old Yahya Mahamid is one of those voices. Mahamid identifies himself as an Arab Israeli Muslim Zionist – a proud one at that. As an educator for StandWithUs, an international Israeli education organisation, he travels across the globe representing StandWithUs speaking tours to educate individuals around the world about the realities and the challenges of life in Israel.
Mahamid was not always an advocate for Israel. Raised in Umm al-Fahm, Israel's third largest Arab town, he remembers the soundtrack of his childhood as “a study in hatred,” filled with libel and indoctrination that paints Israel as an oppressive regime that tramples on the dreams of Arabs like him. “They fed me lies,” he says. “They told me Jews would treat me differently, that Israel would deal with me as a lessor citizen because I am Arab.”
“I believed those lies,” he shares in a video for StandWithUs. “I was taught to hate Israel. But I overcame the hatred.”
The change of heart did not happen overnight. Aged 17, Mahamid left home to work in a Tel Aviv hotel alongside his supposed Jewish oppressors. Yet, to his astonishment, those he had been told would scorn him because of his Arab heritage, welcomed him with open arms, offering friendship. And those who would allegedly trample on an Arab's dreams were the ones who urged him on to success.
The turning point came in 2014, when terrorists kidnapped three Israeli teenagers. The realisation that the victims could have been his friends prompted Mahamid to speak out – and inadvertently launched him on a path of advocacy. Participating in an online campaign, Mahamid posted a picture of himself holding an Israeli flag. Within moments, his post had garnered major attention on social media, including numerous death threats. “The Arab media distributed the picture,” he remembers, “and from that moment, my life was in danger and I was no longer safe on the streets in my town.”
A lot has happened in the years since the Arab Israeli Muslim Zionist took a stand for the first time. The young man who once hated Israel is now one of its most ardent spokespeople. “I am a proud Israeli,” he told the South African Jewish Report. “Whenever anti-Israel people spread lies, like that Israel is an “apartheid” state, they use my name… to destroy the only place I call home.”
According to Mahamid, the Arab media and anti-Israel organisations like the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement have done a “fantastic job” of distorting the truth by selling a pro-Palestinian victim narrative to an international audience obsessed with human rights and social justice. Yet all too often, those who speak out loudest against Israel are victims of misinformation and propaganda.
“Many Arabs and BDS activists I speak to internationally have never met an Israeli – let alone an Arab Israeli Muslim Zionist. My question to them is simple: “You are anti-Zionist. Can you tell me what that means?”
Most of them cannot. I find that tragic, to stand against something so vehemently without knowing what you stand against.”
The truth is simple, he says. “Israel is the best country for Arabs living in the Middle East. Currently, there are roughly two million Arabs in this region who enjoy the full extent of their civil and human rights. Those two million Arabs are Israeli citizens.”
ILSE STRAUSS
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article