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To think like an Arab Israeli

The article below written by Yahyah Mahamid originally appeared February 3, 2024 on ynetnews.com (https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjoltmh56). We at Israel Matters found this so interesting and important that we are sharing it with you below.

As an Arab-Israeli, the events of October 7 and the fighting in Gaza have had a profound effect on me and the Arab community in Israel as a whole. These events put a spotlight on the complicated and complex dynamics of coexistence, the heavy price Israeli Arabs paid and are still paying, and the strong desire of Israeli Arabs to be part of Israeli society. (more…)

Hamath

Eylon Levy is an official spokesman for the Government of Israel. A graduate of both the University of Oxford and Cambridge University, he became widely known following in interview with Sky News regarding the exchange of 50 Hamas-held Israeli civilian hostages for 150 convicted Palestinian offenders in Israeli prisons. The interviewer repeated the terms of the exchange — 50 hostages for 150 criminals – and then questioned whether this 3-for-1 ratio meant that each Israeli life was being valued by Israel as equivalent to three Palestinian lives. With an incredulous raise of his eyebrows, Levy proceeded to expose the idiocy of this proposition – of course Israel would agree to exchanging prisoners for hostages on a one-for-one basis, but we’re talking about Hamas here. (more…)

Doing Good When Times Are Bad

In 1973 I was a student in Jerusalem during the Yom Kippur War. Following several days in and out of bomb shelters, our student group was split into volunteer teams that fanned out across Jerusalem. I was dispatched to a poor neighborhood to go door-to-door and deliver new garbage bags to the residents. This was one small thing that I could do to help. (more…)