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There's Only One Country in the Middle East that Could Produce a Soldier Like Me
(Jewish News-UK) Major Alaa Wahib - I am an Israeli, an Arab, and the highest ranked Muslim in the IDF. Is Israel inherently racist, an apartheid state? Well, do you think that such a country would tolerate a person like myself getting to the position I am today? Twenty percent of Israelis are non-Jewish, have full rights, and are represented throughout society. I do not serve in the army to kill people - I serve in it to save people. When Hamas fires rockets, or Fatah encourages stabbings, we are here to protect the lives of all Israeli citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish. The town I grew up in did not recognize the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. I did not learn Hebrew until I was 17. I was raised to believe the worst things about Jews, and, had I not eventually met and worked alongside them, I might still believe those things today. Peace - real peace - will only come when people talk to each other. The irony of Israeli Apartheid Week is that it wants individuals to focus on differences, not similarities. Instead of building bridges between communities, it wants to build walls. During my time in the UK, I spoke alongside a fellow soldier, a medic who has treated both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists without distinction. We were the Muslim who protects Jewish lives, and the Jew who saves Muslim lives. There's only one country in the Middle East that could produce a couple like that - and it sure as hell isn't an apartheid state.