Arab Voices for Israel

January 4, 2023

Arab Voices for Israel

Israel’s advocates range from devout Jews to fellow Christians to complete agnostics—and everything else in between. Yet there is one particular group of pro-Israel voices that demands a special measure of admiration. Their support for the Jewish state does not stem from religious persuasion or ethnic connection. They choose to speak out for the Promised Land and its people purely because they’ve become convinced of truth. All too often, their conviction costs them dearly. They’ve been ostracized by their own, shunned by their loved ones, branded as traitors and threatened with death. Yet the truth will out. They are the Arabs who stand for Israel.

“I wrote on Facebook that I, as a religious Muslim, support Israel’s right to exist. And I defend the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]. I said, ‘Israel has a right to defend against a terrorist and every Muslim…and we must support and stand by the Israeli, Jewish people and Israel.’ That’s it. That post changed my life…My family left me. My father, everyone left me. I got a message from my family. They said: ‘We disown you.’”
—Noor Dahri, British–Pakistani author, public speaker, executive director at the Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism, devout adherent to Islamic doctrine and self-defined Muslim Zionist

“Israel is the best country for Arabs living in the Middle East. Currently, there are roughly 2 million Arabs in this region who enjoy the full extent of their civil and human rights. Those 2 million Arabs are Israeli citizens. Instead of pushing a political agenda, Israel cares for its people, ensuring that every civilian lives in a democratic, free environment where he or she can flourish. In my personal experience as an Arab Israeli, there is no better country for Arabs in the Middle East.”
—Yahya Mahamid, IDF soldier and self-proclaimed Zionist Muslim Arab

“I believe in the right of the Jewish people to have their own country, the State of Israel…I want to say to the Arabs of Israel to wake up. Comparing us to other Arab countries, we live in paradise. I do not have another state. I do not have another flag…There is no place better than Israel.”
—Sarah Zoabi, an Arab mother from Nazareth, who introduced herself to the judges and audience of Israel’s MasterChef as an Arab, Muslim, Israeli and proud Zionist

“In the Middle East today, there is one country where Christianity is not only not persecuted, but affectionately granted freedom of expression, freedom of worship and security. It is Israel, the Jewish state. Israel is the only place where Christians in the Middle East are safe…According to the Bible, the Land of Israel, including Judea and Samaria, belongs to the Jewish people forever. The promises of God to His people cannot be erased.”
—Father Gabriel Naddaf, Israeli Greek Orthodox priest

“I am the so-called poster boy, the living, breathing proof that Israel is not an apartheid state. And whenever that claim is made, it is my duty to stand up and say, no, not on my watch. I was born in a country that didn’t want me, didn’t protect me and branded me, my family and others like us as traitors. Nobody came to our help—except Israel. Today, I live in the Jewish state as part of a minority group, yet I get to enjoy all the rights that Lebanon refused me. I have all the freedom and opportunity to succeed, to make something of myself. I know from experience that I cannot take these things for granted. Israel took me under her wing and gave me a good life. Now it is my turn to stand up and do something for her.”
—Jonathan Elkhoury, an Arab Christian Israeli who fled the persecution of Lebanese Christians in his home country and found a safe haven in Israel

“Thank you Israel for the compulsory education law that forced parents to send girls to school, and thank you for the excellent schools and universities. Thank you for the justice system and the welfare services allowing women to dare and live their dreams. And thank you for the advanced health care and hospitals. Thank you for the democracy that allows us to make our voices heard. Thank you for the economic development that allows us to contribute in high-tech, medicine, science and a variety of other professions. Thank you, Israel Defense Forces, for keeping us safe from the shower of rockets and cold-hearted terrorists who would also persecute Arabs like ISIS did in Syria. And thank you to the deeply kind and warm-hearted people of Israel who will always have your back. Thank you, my beloved country.”
—Sophia Salma Shramko, an Arab Israeli tech entrepreneur with a master’s degree from Stanford University

“It’s very righteous for the Jews to have their ancestral homeland in the land of Israel. Jews are not colonialists or conquerors in the land of Israel, because if we would believe that then we would believe that David, Solomon, Isaiah and Yirmiyahu [Jeremiah] and the prophets were actually colonizers, and that would kill the Islamic faith.”
—Loay Al-Shareef, an Abu Dhabi-based social media influencer and a self-declared Zionist

“It’s a great honor to hold a weapon in one hand and the Quran in the other to defend my homeland, Israel.”
— A-Raqib Imad, an Arab Israeli serving in the IDF

“Every time I visit Jerusalem, it pains me that Jerusalemites cannot visit Gaza. And Gazans cannot visit the West Bank [Judea and Samaria]. Terrorism causes this division. It pains me equally that the unemployment rate is 45% in Gaza and 41% for women in the West Bank; that Hamas have turned Gaza into a prison, killing any dissenters or peacemakers; that schools I visit in the West Bank do not even have Israel, their neighbor, on the map. This shows a leadership that is afraid of change and the future.”
—Ed Husain, British author and academic

“It’s not Israel that is responsible for the suffering of the Palestinians; it’s Hamas.”
— Dr. Tawfik Hamid, author, medical doctor, former Islamic radical, social media influencer and a fearless defender of Israel

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