(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - The Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel on Oct. 7 also murdered and kidnapped scores of Muslim citizens of Israel, including members of the Bedouin community. The terrorists' murder spree made zero distinction between Muslim and Jew. Hamas mercilessly beat, humiliated, abducted, and murdered their fellow Muslims, including Awad Darawshe, 23, an Israeli-Arab paramedic who had remained behind at the music festival, refusing to abandon the wounded. "I speak Arabic. I think I can manage," he said. He was wrong. Abed al-Rahman Alnasasrah, 50, was murdered by Hamas terrorists when he attempted to rescue people from the music festival. Fatima Altallaqat, 35, from the Bedouin village of Ar'ara, was murdered while working with her husband near Ofakim in Israel. Her husband, Hamid, recounted: "We're a religious Muslim family and she wore the traditional headdress of a devout woman." Her brother said that Hamas terrorists shot 40 bullets into her. Hamas was hoping to trigger another cycle of violence between Jews and Arabs inside Israel, similar to that which erupted in May 2021. This year, however, Israeli-Arabs have not heeded the calls by Hamas. One reason is that they saw how Hamas terrorists make no distinction between Jews and Muslims. On Oct. 7, Hamas showed the world, with unfathomably ghoulish pride, by way of Go-Pro cameras and other self-documentation, that it has neither a religious nor a secular-humanist set of values. Perhaps the Palestinians in Gaza should look at the Arab citizens of Israel and note how they enjoy equal rights, democracy, freedom of speech and a free media. If Palestinians wish to live well, like the Israeli-Arabs, this is the time for them to get rid of Hamas and all the terror leaders who, for seven decades, have brought them nothing but one disaster after another. The writer, an awarding-winning Israeli Arab journalist, lecturer, and documentary filmmaker, is a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
2023-12-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive