To the Arab citizens of Israel,

For a while now, I have been asking: where are the Arab Israelis?

On a recent visit to Israel, I saw something that moved me deeply. Arab women sitting in cafés with Jewish friends. Mothers pushing strollers side by side. Conversations flowing easily in markets and shopping centers. Laughter. Ordinary life. Shared space. Shared humanity.

I wanted to see more. I wanted to hear more.

Because that reality — the daily coexistence that quietly exists — is not what the world sees.

This week, at a peace conference initiated by Tom Wegner, Founder of the Abrahamic Movement in collaboration with Talking Peace, two organizations deeply committed to promoting Abrahamic Unity, I met an Arab Israeli woman named Samah Sakran. As we  sat together with other Jewish, Muslim, and Arab women something powerful happened. We looked into each other’s eyes. We spoke candidly about our past. About our fears. About the grief we carry. About the hopes we are almost afraid to voice. And about a future that, despite everything, we can still build.

It was not naïve. It was not easy. But it was honest.

And honesty is the beginning of leadership.

Samah spoke candidly about the silence within her community. She lamented how few are willing to step forward publicly.

At one point, I referred to her as Palestinian. She gently but firmly corrected me.

“No,” she said. “I am an Israeli. I love this country.”

There was no........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)