Last evening, I had the pleasure of listening to Yoseph Haddad, an Israeli Arab Christian who joined the IDF’s vaunted Golani Brigade. When he joined the IDF he was ridiculed by Arab neighbors who said that “Israel was just using him.” They assured Haddad that once Israel had no more use for his services, they would abandon him.

As it turned out, during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Haddad was severely wounded. He lost one foot and suffered shrapnel wounds throughout his body. As he lay bleeding on the battlefield, he was certain he would not survive. While still conscious, he was aware that he was being lifted on a stretcher by four members of his squad and evacuated by helicopter from the battlefield. His fellow troopers, all of whom were Jewish, had put their lives in great danger to rescue their Israeli Arab Christian comrade. Haddad confessed to the audience, he loves recounting that event to his irredeemably antisemitic Muslim neighbors, just to “piss them off.”

Haddad said he debunks the apartheid label affixed to Israel every chance he gets. Apartheid existed in Africa, but never in Israel. African apartheid was enacted by the government after the 1948 National Party victory. It legally enforced the economic exploitation of the black majority. The White minority enacted laws which created separate residential areas and facilities such as benches, beaches, and hospitals for different races, with most of land reserved for the white minority.

By contrast, Israel has an open society for all resident religions: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druz, and Bahai. Israel has a significant number of Muslim, Arab-Israeli professionals, including doctors, lawyers, and university professors. Muslims serve in high-ranking positions, such as in hospitals and on the Supreme Court.

In addition, there are Muslim doctors as heads of departments in major hospitals. Justice Khaled Kabub is a Muslim who sits on the Supreme Court. In 2022 he was appointed as the first permanent Muslim Supreme Court justice in Israel. Prior to that, there were also Christian Supreme Court Justices. In fact, a Muslim judge sentenced and jailed a former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, for bribery and fraud. There are no separate secular laws for Jews and non-Jews in Israel, so the apartheid trope is a fabrication used by the enemies of Israel. In short, Israel does not have a separate, distinct body of secular law for non-Jews, thus all citizens are bound by the same Knesset-enacted laws.

Yoseph Haddad advised the audience that to combat anti-Israel lies as well as antisemitism you must educate yourself and children about Israel. The noise on social media is just that, noise. He said that there are three groups you will meet: pro-Israel, anti-Israel, and those in the middle. He said to focus on those in the middle and provide them with facts about Israel to discredit the fabrications of its enemies. He also advised, to ignore the tropes, canards, and libels hurled at Israel by her enemies because you will never convince them to change.

All in all, it was an enthralling and enlightening evening. Haddad concluded his riveting speech with a loud and proud “AM Yisrael Chai!”

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)