One of my students told me that since the beginning of Operation Guardian of the Walls (the most recent military campaign against Hamas in Gaza), dozens of Israeli Arabs left positive messages on my Hebrew Facebook page. They didn’t relate to the conflict, but expressed their agreement with the message of unity that I am conveying there. The student asked me if I could explain their sudden interest in the content on my page.
First, I think it’s easier for Arab Israelis to access my content than it is for Arabs in other countries for the simple reason that Arab Israelis speak and read Hebrew. From the content of their comments, which are also written in Hebrew, it’s clear that they agree with the message in my words, and this, I think, should be the clearest message to the Jews regarding what we need to do if we truly want peace.
The message, as we know, is simple: The world has no respect for us because we have no respect for the connection between us. Our sages repeated this message in the ears of our ancestors. They wrote about it profusely, yet we refused to listen. Antisemites, too, have told us in countless ways that they despised our loathing of each other. History has repeatedly shown that the worst blows we suffered from the nations came after periods of intensified discord and infighting among us, and our most prosperous times were during strong internal unity.
Now the Arabs are telling us the same message. In my eyes, they are not enemies; they are messengers who tell us that they will appreciate us when we appreciate the connection between us. It is the same message that the nations of the world have been telling us since our inception as a nation, but now it is being told by our contemporaries. To me, the positive response of our Arab neighbors to the message of Jewish unity is a testimony to the paramount need to begin the process of reconciliation with our neighbors with reconciliation among ourselves. The sooner we start, the better it will be for everyone: for the Jews in Israel, for the Arabs in Israel, and for the rest of the world. As soon as we begin to unite, we will find that the Arabs are not our enemies, they are our partners.
For more on this topic, refer to the books The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord, and Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour.
For more on this topic, refer to the books The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord, and Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour.