In his recent Substack essay, the preeminent Israeli historian Benny Morris makes false claims concerning the situation of Arab citizens of Israel. He is grossly inaccurate when explaining their lack of protests; their attitude towards the Jewish state; and the impact of the war on Jewish-Muslim relations. As to their lack of protest, Morris claims,

Some may have opposed the Hamas assault in principle. But without doubt Israel’s Arab minority was cowed into silence by the thought that Israel’s Jews, among whom they lived and worked, would suspect them of disloyalty. (emphasis added) Morris ignores the widespread outpouring of Arab condemnation of the Hamas attack and willingness of 86.5 percent of Arab citizens to support helping out with civilian volunteer efforts. Addressing the Knesset’s National Security Committee on October 22, 2023, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai “praised Israeli Arab society for its exemplary behavior.”

At the eight-week mark of the IDF offensive, a minority of Arabs held the IDF solely responsible for the harm to Gazan civilians. Among Muslims, 60 percent held the IDF and Hamas equally responsible, with 15.5 percent holding the IDF solely responsible, compared with 12 percent who held Hamas solely responsible. This reflected the fact that among supporters of the Arab-nationalist Balad party, none held Hamas solely responsible, but 29 percent held the IDF solely responsible. Among Christians and Druze, more than three times as many held Hamas solely responsible as those holding the IDF solely responsible.

Morris claims, “Forty and even thirty years ago, none identified as ‘Palestinians’ – today, all, or most [Arabs], do.” However, in a recent poll, only 9 percent of Arab Israeli respondents said that “their Palestinian identity is the dominant component of their identity.” Instead, 33.9% cited Israeli citizenship, 29.2% cited religious affiliation and 26.9% their Arab identity as the dominant elements in their personal identity.

Consistent with these personal identifications, more than one year after the war’s beginning, Arab citizens moved closer to the state than ever before. A Konrad Adenauer Program survey estimated 57.8% believe that the ongoing war had fostered a sense of shared destiny between Arabs and Jews in Israel. A large majority of respondents (71.8%) supported the inclusion of an Arab party in the Israeli government after the next elections.

Morris points to the pepper-spraying of an Arab woman in Jaffa as one example of widespread harassment of Arab citizens by Jewish nationalists but ignores the overall peacefulness in Jaffa and other mixed cities. At the war’s beginning, these same youths roamed Jaffa chanting nationalist slogans. The local imam received numerous calls from Muslim youths wanting to physically respond, creating the specter of a repeat of the 2021 violence.

But something had changed. “Don’t do anything,” the imam told callers. “Let us handle this quietly,” sending this message to some 1,200 youths connected with the mosque. The imam then did something that would have been unthinkable in 2021: he called the police.

After the 2021 riots, local police launched youth programs—coordinated between mosques— that kept many young men off the streets. After October 7, Jew and Arab Jaffans formed joint groups to prevent a fresh round of violence. A WhatsApp group collected funds, and distributed food, clothes, and blankets to Jewish and Bedouin evacuees from border communities, along with support for local Jaffans. During Ramadan 2023, local mosques organized a communal iftar and invited an Orthodox rabbi to speak. Similar dynamics occurred in other mixed cities.

Morris is right that ultra-right Zionists, led by Ben Gvir and Smotrich, have initiated anti-Arab, sometimes violent actions. But it would be a mistake to assume that these actions are seen positively by a wide section of Israeli Jews. Importantly, their attempts to forestall implementation of already passed legislation aiding the Arab sector have been rebuffed. Interior Minister Moshe Arbel not only released the funds from the second five-year plan Smotrich had frozen, but allocated substantial additional emergency funds to Arab municipalities.

Moreover, the current government passed a five-year plan to develop East Jerusalem, stating, “The development and prosperity of Jerusalem…for the benefit of all its citizens…is based on the integration of East Jerusalem residents into the fabric of urban life and Israeli society.” And Smotrich was unsuccessfully when he tried to eliminate a portion of this funding that would enable more East Jerusalem students to attend Israeli universities.

It is troubling that such a sound academician would be so sloppy in his reporting on the attitudes and treatment of Arab citizens during the IDF-Hamas war. He never references polling data or other evidence to back up his claims and his generalizations. We should be rejoicing how Arab and Jewish neighbors have been able to effectively navigate such difficult times without falling prey to the extremists on both sides that were so effective in creating violent behaviors in 2021. Despite some remaining problems, Arab and Jewish citizens are melding together into a multi-religious society moving towards equality of opportunity and mutual respect.

Robert Cherry is recently retired Brooklyn College economics professor, an American Enterprise affiliate, and author of the soon-to-be released Arab Citizens of Israel: How Far Have They Come? (Wicked Son Press, March 2026).

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