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........

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