Jews and Arabs volunteer together during war time, establish relief center in Israel’s largest Bedouin city

Jews and Arabs in Rahat, Israel’s largest Bedouin city, have together established a joint relief center to help those affected by the Hamas terror attack and massacre on Oct. 7.

The Arab Muslim Bedouin community in Israel suffered in the attack, with some killed and kidnapped by Hamas, where they are being held hostage in Gaza. There were also heroes from the Bedouin IDF unit who saved many lives that day, holding off 30 terrorists with a small for over an hour.

Some 300,000 Israeli Arabs live in the Negev desert in southern Israel. 

Mofed Abu Swelm, field coordinator for the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, and co-founder of the newly-established relief center in Rahat, said on Oct. 7, “all of us Negev residents woke up to a very harsh day with rockets. They [Hamas terrorists] entered the country, and there were people murdered from both the Bedouin community and the Jewish community.”

“We established here in Rahat a shared relief center operated by Jews and Arabs whose goal is to help the affected people,” he said, adding that both Arabs and Jews have donated to the center and that all volunteers are from both communities.

“Here in the Negev live Jews and Arabs; we have a shared destiny. All of us together will win, all of us together will come out of this.”

Hamas terrorists did not make a distinction between Jews and Arabs when it crossed the southern border into Israel on Oct. 7.

“During the Oct. 7 attack, it was clear that Hamas does not differentiate between blood and blood,” said Danielle Cumpton, head of operations at Have You Seen the Horizon Lately, an NGO of the New Israel Fund that promotes equal rights and Arab-Jewish partnerships.

Foad Al-Zeadna, the director of the community center in Rahat, said that four of his family members are still being held hostage in Gaza: a man named Yousuf and his three children Bilal, Hamza, and Ayesha. According to Al-Zeadna, the four had been working on Kibbutz Holit, which was invaded by Hamas terrorists. He only found out on Sunday that they had been kidnapped.

“From that morning and until now, there has been no communication with them,” Al-Zeadna said. “To lose family is really hard. We hope that they will come back, that everyone will come back home healthy, and that this war ends.”

Shir Nosatzki, co-founder and director of Have You Seen the Horizon Lately, noted that Hamas killed many people from the Arab community.

“When Hamas attacked us, it did not only attack Jews. The group shot and killed many people from the Arab [sector],” she said, adding that 24 people from the Bedouin community had been murdered by Hamas and another seven had been abducted to Gaza.

The home of a Bedouin woman that is volunteering at the new relief center was completely destroyed by a missile last week.

“Now she is homeless,” Nosatzki pointed out, adding that there are about 100,000 citizens in the Bedouin society who are living without safety shelters.

Nosatzki said that the ongoing war is not between Jews and Arabs.

“It is not a war between Jews and Arabs. It is a war between light and darkness, between people who want life and people who are terrorists.”