Changing the narrative

Don’t you just love it when the antisemitic narrative of Israel being an apartheid state is once again proven to be so wrong?

The international anti-Israel lobby goes all out to persuade the world that Jews are genocidal racists, and that Israel is proof positive of that. Since 7 October, it has done so by finding visuals and making claims about the war in Gaza to prove its point. And in doing so, the lobby throws out loaded terms like “apartheid Israel”, and “genocidal Israel”. I could go on and on.

Only, these words have meanings that are opposite to everything that Israel stands for. It generally doesn’t take much to prove that these narratives are fictional – if you are open to the truth, that is.

However, on Tuesday, when a 52-year-old Muslim Bedouin citizen of Israel was saved in a massive military operation specifically to rescue him, this “apartheid Israel” narrative totally collapsed.

Not only that, it proved the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is out there to safeguard, protect, and secure every single citizen of Israel, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Bahai, or those who don’t fit into a specific religion.

Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi, a father of 11 from Rahat, a Bedouin town in the south of Israel, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on 7 October. He was taken hostage from Kibbutz Magen’s packing factory, where he had been employed as a security guard. He was held captive for 326 days in Gaza.

Israel sent the elite Shayetet 13 unit in a complex operation on Tuesday to rescue Al-Qadi. The unit was supported by the IDF Southern Command and Shin Bet, who located him alive in a tunnel.

Then, once rescued and brought to safety, he is being treated by a religious, Orthodox Jewish doctor at the Soroko University Medical Center. And this, our haters, believe is the work of an apartheid regime, a regime that cares only about Jews! Really?

Here we have, once again, proof positive that their narrative is pure exaggeration and lies. I wonder what the media who support these lies are going to say about this rescue operation. Perhaps they won’t say a word and just ignore it because it doesn’t fit their mission.

The best social media post I read in the wake of Al-Qadi’s rescue was, “My favourite aspect of apartheid is when the whole Jewish world is celebrating the rescue of a Muslim Arab Bedouin hostage.” And that’s a fact.

It was tough not to be moved while watching the videos of his sons running to see Al-Qadi for the first time in more than 10 months. It was a gift to be able to hear the calls he had with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, which were so telling. Both leaders called him on his return to Israel.

It was obvious both Herzog and Al-Qadi were quite emotional when the president said, “Dear Farhan, how moving it is to hear your voice! Our brother has come home! Our brother has returned!”

Al-Qadi thanked the president, saying, “I’m grateful to the state of Israel, to the army who came. People are suffering there. Do everything you can to bring people home. Work 24 hours, don’t sleep until they return. People are really suffering, you can’t imagine.”

He went on to tell the president, “Suddenly, I heard someone speaking Hebrew outside the door. I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe it. I thank you very much. This is thanks to our army, they are doing a sacred duty, risking their lives. Thank you very much, Mr President.”

The president reiterated, “The most important thing is to bring everyone back. There are still so many brothers and sisters there, and we want them all home. The entire nation of Israel is with us.”

As we wait for some kind of positive outcome to the drawn-out negotiations over the hostages and the war, Al-Qadi’s return has sparked excitement in Israel and around the Jewish world. Somehow, it has brought some hope, except as the Hostages Families Forum made clear, “The opportunity to bring everyone back is slipping away with each passing day.”

This Wednesday, the families of hostages led a massive vehicle convoy from Hostage Square in Tel Aviv to the Gaza border. They called out to their loved ones using powerful loudspeakers mounted on a crane.

Having just seen the excitement of Al-Qadi’s family, I can only imagine the anguish of those whose loved ones are still being held hostage in Gaza. Hopefully, we’ll have good news soon.

Going back to the fake narrative about Jews and Israel, I can’t help but reiterate something that Haviv Rettig Gur, a seasoned Israeli journalist and analyst, made clear at Limmud last weekend. It was around the claim that Jews have colonised the land that is Israel. Just the term itself is astonishing in that it points to Jews not having a history with the country despite the connection between Jews and Israel going back to the Bible.

Also, colonisation means “the subjugation of one country by another, leading to political, social, and economic change”, and I’m not sure which country our haters think Jews represent.

Gur makes it clear that Israel is made up of refugees from all over the world who have nowhere else to go because the countries they come from – a large proportion of them in the Arab world – certainly won’t have them back.

As Gur puts it, it isn’t because Israel is this huge might –with America as its ally – that it will always win, it’s simply because Israelis have no choice, they have no place else to go.

It’s also for this reason that while there’s no Constitution in Israel and there are very few basic laws, democracy will prevail because no matter the difference in belief, politics, and sentiment that exist in Israel, Israelis have to find solutions to their problems because no-one is going anywhere. The world isn’t waiting for Jews.

And, he said, if those who hate us think that terrorism or wars will scare Jews out of Israel, they are on the wrong track. Again, Jews will keep fighting because for Israelis, it’s their only home.

Here’s to bringing all the remaining hostages home!

Shabbat Shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor