Brothers' Keepers: when Arabs and Jews saved each others' lives
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A poll published last September shows a fairly astounding, yet perhaps not surprising, attitude: about 90% of Israelis think that Palestinians want to either commit genocide, or at a minimum conquer Israel and expel all the Jews. In an exact mirror image, 90% of Palestinians think the same about Israelis. A slim majority of Israelis give Palestinians a score of zero out of 100 on their “level of humanity.” Nearly three-fourths of Palestinians give the same zero to Israelis. Less than ten percent on either side agree that it is possible to trust the other.
For more than a century the Israeli-Arab conflict has been defined as Jews killing Arabs, Arabs killing Jews, finally culminating in the worst violence from both sides on and after Hamas’ invasion on October 7, 2023. No wonder it’s impossible to find common ground or political solutions right now.
But that zero-sum narrative misses some small yet profound moments where the opposite occurred: Jews saving Arab lives, and Arabs saving Jewish ones. Amidst all the present violence, hatred, and animosity, it’s easy to find ourselves amongst either side’s 90%. But to help maintain our sense of what is possible, let’s also remember those precious moments of good deeds and acts of courage that brought Arabs and Jews to protect each other. Here are a few highlights:
The Holocaust
An Arab doctor saved Jews in Berlin, a Muslim farmer housed Jews in Tunisia
Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum, recognizes around 28,000 Righteous Gentiles — non-Jews who saved the lives of Jews during the Holocaust. The vast majority are from Europe, for obvious reasons. Sixty Muslims have been honored, mostly from Albania. There is only one Arab recognized: Dr. Mohammed Helmy from Egypt. He was in Berlin when the Nazis came to power, barred from practicing medicine at his hospital, and twice arrested by the Gestapo (for being Arab and for speaking out against the Nazis).
Helmy was working in private practice when one of his Jewish patients, Anna Boros, needed a hiding place. He kept her hidden through the entire war, even while under scrutiny from the Gestapo. He got the Central Islamic Institute in Berlin to issue Anna a document attesting to her conversion to Islam, and he forged a marriage certificate to an Egyptian man, to establish her Islamic legitimacy. Helmy eventually also hid Anna’s mother, stepfather, and grandmother. When the Gestapo began to close in on him, he moved the family to a German friend of his, Freida Szturmann, and presented the Nazis with a false trail. All four survived the war. The Jewish family went to the United States, and Helmy stayed in Germany, working as a doctor until his death in 1982. Anna (now Gutman) visited him in 1968 with her daughter, and wrote testimonies on his deeds to the Berlin Senate. These were not discovered until later, and were brought to the attention of Yad Vashem, which accorded him Righteous Gentile status in 2013.
In Tunisia, Khaled Abdul-Wahab, a thirty-one year-old Muslim from a wealthy family, used his position as an intermediary between German troops and the locals to know when certain Jewish families were under threat (Tunisia was controlled by Vichy France, but under German military occupation). Between 1942-43, Abdul-Wahab brought around 50 Jews to his sprawling family farm, successfully housing them until the British liberated Tunisia. Several of the children he protected later told his story, which was submitted to Yad Vashem. Sadly, his efforts didn’t quite merit Righteous Gentile status. Yad Vashem cites that his life wasn’t at risk and the Jews weren’t “hidden.” That’s because the Germans were actually fully aware of what he was doing. He was allowed to house the Jews on the condition that the men continue to work, and that none of the Jews try to escape from the area. Still, his efforts were an uncommon — likely unique — act on behalf of his Jewish neighbors.
1929
Arabs saved their Jewish neighbors amidst horrific violence
Until Hamas’ invasion, August 23-29, 1929, stood out as the worst acts of violence in Palestine/Israel. It began as religious tension over ownership of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and spiraled into mayhem throughout the region. Arab mobs attacked Jews with atrocities that foretold October 7: rape, mutilations, murdering children in front of their parents, and more. In Jerusalem, Hebron, Tsfat, Haifa, Jaffa, and Jewish towns throughout Palestine, Arab mobs set upon largely defenseless, mostly-religious, mostly-Mizrahi Jewish communities. Numerous settlements were completely wiped out; the thousand year-old Jewish community of Hebron was ethnically-cleansed from the city. By the end of the week, 133 Jews were killed, along with 116 Arabs (most Arabs were killed by British forces trying to restore order). The riots of 1929 became a core experience for both sides’ narrative: the Jews seeing Arab savagery and rejectionism, the Arabs seeing their unresolved grievances swelling into a national uprising against Zionism.
Often lost amidst the stories of cruelty are the stories of heroism in which individual Arabs, and entire families, saved the lives of their Jewish neighbors. In Hebron, Abu Shaker ‘Amru defended Rabbi Ya’akov Yosef Slonim and his family. ‘Amur lay down in front of their doorway and challenged the rioters to kill him if they wanted to get past. They stabbed him in the leg, but he still wouldn’t budge, and the attackers moved on. The Jews of Hebron reported the names of members of more than a dozen Muslim families who together hid, sheltered, helped flee, and ultimately rescued several hundred Jews from the city.
Kfar Uria, a tiny Jewish settlement of around 50 people outside Jerusalem, came under attack by hundreds of Arabs, who killed several members and burned down the village. But Muslim farmers from the nearby village Beit Far rescued six Jewish families, smuggling them to safety while helping the Jewish defenders.
Operation Good Neighbor
Israel saved Syrian lives during the civil war
The Syrian civil war began in 2011 and effectively ended this past December, when dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell and he fled the country. Israel shares a border with Syria along the Golan Heights, and pursued a policy of non-involvement during the war, neither working to prop up Assad nor tear him down. Occasionally, an injured Syrian civilian or rebel fighter made their way to the border seeking assistance. In 2016 the IDF set up Operation Good Neighbor to officially provide humanitarian relief to those on and near the border.
Thousands of Syrians were brought into Israel for medical treatment in Israeli hospitals and a field clinic set up along the border. Patients included sick and wounded civilians and rebel fighters (the only other option for treatment, Jordan, refused to allow in rebels), and around half the total were under age 18. Israel kept patient names secret to protect them from retribution when they returned to Syria. Israel also sent medicine and equipment across the border for distribution by Syrians. In one example from 2017, a maternity hospital on the Syrian side received incubators, anesthesia and ventilator machines, and ultrasound devices. Fuel, generators, water pipes, and materials for schools were also sent across, along with tons of food, baby formula, flour, diapers, shoes, and cold weather gear. The IDF worked with the UN, American charity organizations, and local Syrians to facilitate the operation.
Operation Good Neighbor officially ended in 2018 when the Assad regime retook most of the region near the Israeli border. According to the IDF, the operation served the moral imperative of providing humanitarian aid. Israel also hoped it would create a less hostile environment in the border region, as Syrians raised and educated to see Israel as the enemy would start to realize that it was not.
A photo from the IDF showing Israeli troops evacuating a wounded Syrian. Source: IDF
Road to Recovery
Israeli volunteers transport Palestinians to medical care in Israel
In 2011, Israeli Yuval Roth founded a nonprofit organization called Road to Recovery. Volunteers drive Palestinians requiring medical treatment from the Gaza and West Bank crossing points to hospitals inside Israel. Most of the Palestinians are children who don’t have access to the care they need in the Palestinian territories. The organization says that, “we believe that our assistance, in addition to its humanitarian aspect, generates goodwill, presents a unique opportunity for Palestinians and Israelis to get to know each other, creates hope in this troubled region and contributes to the peace between our peoples.”
Roth’s brother was kidnapped and killed by Hamas in 2003, which prompted Roth to begin his volunteer efforts (he received an early donation from famed musician Leonard Cohen). Several of the organization’s members were murdered on October 7, and seven were taken hostage. Today, volunteers continue to drive around 140 Palestinians every day from the West Bank, though their operations have mostly halted through the Gaza crossings due to the war.
Farhan al-Qadi
Israeli-Bedouin hostage refused to give up Jews to Hamas
The Bedouin Israeli-Arab father of 11 was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, and rescued by IDF forces on August 27, 2024. He was captured near Kibbutz Magen close to the Gaza border, where he worked as a security guard.
According to al-Qadi, once his captors realized he was a Muslim, they demanded that he show them where the Jews of the kibbutz were hiding. He refused, and they shot him in the leg. He formed a close bond in captivity with Aryeh Zalmanovich, 86, whom Hamas allowed to wither away and die.
When he was asked why he didn’t give up the Israeli Jews on October 7, al-Qadi simply said, “we grew up this way.” “I played dumb,” he said, “even if they killed me, I wasn’t ready to do it.”
______
So many of us are familiar with the names of the extremists and killers of the past hundred years: Amin al-Husseini, Yasser Arafat, Hamas, Baruch Goldstein, and others. But how many of us know Abu Shaker ‘Amru, Mohammed Helmy, Yuval Roth, Operation Good Neighbor, and Farhan al-Qadi? We should add those names to our repertoire, and take from their examples that even in the midst of entrenched conflict, people can decide to see the humanity in others, and act on it.
A cease-fire-for-hostages deal was just announced this morning — an historic moment filled with promise for both Israelis and Palestinians. As far as we know publicly, no Palestinian came forward with information about the hostages in Gaza over the past 15 months. Let’s hope that time will reveal otherwise, so that we can, in the future, honor their names and acts of courage.
Catch up on recent episodes!
In case you missed some Jew Oughta Know episodes over the holiday season, catch up now!
Episode 189: Is Israel Adrift?, on the cease-fire agreement in Lebanon.
Episode 190: This Changes Everything, on the impact of the fall of Syria.
Episode 191: A re-release of Episode 29 on the historical story of Hanukkah.
Episode 192: Words Against Humanity, how language is altered to demonize Israel, Zionism, and Jews.
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Picture of the Day
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as Haredim, parade Torah scrolls along King George Street in the heart of Tel Aviv’s shopping district, a distinctly Jewish showing in the avowedly-secular city.
Photo: Jason Harris
THANK you. So encouraging to know!