Unmasking Prejudice: Israel's Arab Citizens Denounce False Association with Hamas

Aya Najame, an Arab Muslim from the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, used to participate in cultural exchange trips to Jewish schools during her childhood. This allowed her to gain insights into the Jewish way of life, while Jewish children visited Najame's school to learn about her life.

With over 20% of the country's population, Arab citizens and permanent residents in Israel are a significant demographic. However, they are not a homogeneous group as they differ from Palestinians residing in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Most of the population in Jerusalem consists of Muslims, although there exists a significant Christian Arab minority. While approximately 1.5 million people are Israeli citizens, many residing in Jerusalem only have permanent residency status and do not possess full citizenship rights. The residents identify themselves as Arabs, Palestinians, or Druze, which is a religious sect present in Israel, Lebanon, and Syria.

Some individuals are proficient in Hebrew and live in integrated communities like Haifa, whereas others reside in segregated towns where they experience discrimination from Israeli authorities and feel like second-class citizens. Despite being exempt from compulsory service, several hundred individuals choose to serve in the Israeli military annually. Many of them have family members living in the West Bank and Gaza.

Haifa is not like the rest of Israel, Najame says.

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"We live together here, Arab people and Jewish people. We work together, we go to the same places," she told CNN.

Najame stated that Haifa is the most comfortable place, and once you leave, you start to feel increasingly uncomfortable. It's difficult to explain, but it's simply an uncomfortable feeling.

Ashraf Ashkar, a 35-year-old Arab Israeli, is employed at a restaurant in Haifa's Arab Wadi Nisnas neighborhood. He mentioned having friends who serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and others who were in the areas of Israel that were brutally attacked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas earlier this month. Ashkar maintains constant communication with them and even has an Arab friend who recently joined the reserves. He emphasized that Israel is his home.

But he is deeply aware of his own family's history. His ancestors were forced to leave Iqrit, a village located north of Haifa, by Israeli forces during the 1948 war. They were assured that they would be able to return in a matter of weeks, but unfortunately, they were never permitted to do so, according to Ashkar. The Israeli Supreme Court later declared the eviction unlawful and stated that the families of Igrit should be permitted to go back to their land. However, before they could exercise this right, the IDF completely demolished the village in the 1950s.

"It becomes complicated when you are uncertain about where you truly belong. I try to avoid dwelling on it too much," Ashkar expressed.

The Hamas terrorist attacks, claimed by Israeli officials to have resulted in the death of over 1,400 individuals in Israel on October 7, along with the subsequent intense Israeli bombardment of Gaza, reportedly causing more than 4,100 fatalities in the enclave, have escalated tensions, compounding existing strained relations among various groups.

Since December, Israel has been under the governance of its most right-wing administration to date. Recently, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alongside certain opposition leaders, convened an emergency war cabinet to oversee the conflict. Notably, the national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, has a history of extremism and has been found guilty of promoting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab prejudice. Furthermore, Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, advocates for the elimination of the Palestinian Authority and the annexation of the West Bank. Although they are not part of the war cabinet's composition, they continue to fulfill their ministerial responsibilities.

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BTselem, an Israeli organization focused on human rights in the Occupied Territories, has stated that the inflammatory statements made by Gvir and Smotrich have emboldened extremists and contributed to a rise in attacks on Palestinians, particularly by right-wing groups and Israeli settlers. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of mid-September, there have been 216 documented attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank resulting in injuries, along with 582 incidents causing property damage. CNN reached out to the IDF for comment on the increased violence but has not received a response.

"The settlers have expressed their firm intention to pursue us relentlessly. The prevailing atmosphere constantly reminds us that we are the imminent prey. And, frankly, we are indeed the next target," disclosed Diane Buttu, an esteemed Palestinian-Canadian lawyer residing in Haifa, who has formerly been engaged as a legal consultant for the Palestinian faction in peace talks.

Following the Hamas assaults, Diane conveyed that the proliferation of derogatory remarks and inflammatory rhetoric against Palestinians has escalated remarkably. "Expressions such as dehumanizing Palestinians as mere animals and advocating for their complete eradication have become distressingly commonplace," she shared with CNN.

Buttu expressed feeling like a constant threat as a Palestinian living in Israel. She explained that she is automatically regarded as part of the human animal group unless she denounces terrorism. She emphasized that she never expects Jewish individuals to denounce settler violence or prove that they are not settlers.

Naim Khoury, a lawyer who lives in Haifa, said the city is normally an oasis of coexistence.

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Naim Khoury, a 39-year-old lawyer residing in Haifa, can personally understand the experience of being viewed with mistrust. Despite Haifa being commonly regarded as a model of successful coexistence, Khoury highlights that the aftermath of the October brutality has repercussions even in this city.

"Due to our Arab identity, certain individuals now regard us with suspicion. Merely being an Arab has become synonymous with being a terrorist," he expressed to CNN. "However, we vehemently denounce acts of terrorism and grieve for every life lost."

Khoury mentioned having multiple friends in the military and the police, but even they encounter similar suspicion at times.

"In Haifa, we strive to maintain positive relations and coexistence, so it's disheartening that whenever there are security-related events, Jewish individuals automatically question me as an Arab, asking for my opinion and whether I am comfortable with it," he expressed.

What rights?

Abu Nader has been running a small cafe in Jerusalems Old City for 49 years, in the same building where he wasborn and has lived in for his entire life .

Like many Palestinians in this area, he holds permanent residency in Israel but lacks citizenship. When asked about pursuing citizenship, he expressed little interest, questioning the value of such rights. Nader, who has five daughters, two sons, and 24 grandchildren, faces challenges due to his family members residing in different parts of the city. Unfortunately, during times of heightened tensions in Jerusalem, the Israeli police occasionally impose restrictions on access to the Old City. This policy limits entry to Palestinians with a permanent address in the area or those who surpass a certain age.

Buttu said that the restrictions on the movements of permanent residents are just one example of discriminationadding that even those who hold citizenship can be targeted.

Abu Nader was born in the Old City of Jerusalem. He has spent his whole life in the city. Pictured in his coffee shop in the Muslim Quarter.

Ivana Kottasova/CNN

The speaker expressed concern about the various laws that discriminate against Palestinians holding Israeli citizenship, including one that restricts their ability, as well as others', to relocate to specific towns. This law allows "admission committees" in certain regions to determine whether individuals are suitable to join the community based on their perceived compatibility with the community's social and cultural norms.

This year, the law has been extended to apply to settlements with 700 households, an increase from the previous limit of 400. As a result, Adalah, an NGO dedicated to protecting the rights of the Arab minority in Israel, stated that the expanded version of the law now covers 41% of all localities and 80% of the country's territory.

"As a Palestinian residing in this country, your very existence revolves around the constant struggle to create a secure haven within a familiar environment where you live and work. It's a place where you can freely express yourself in Arabic, where your political beliefs are acknowledged, and where you don't have to censor your words. On the other hand, there's also the option of completely assimilating into the other side. However, navigating somewhere in between these two extremes is a realm of immense unease," Buttu explained. "Even if you choose complete assimilation, uncertainty still lingers."

The café owned by Nader is renowned for its robust and delightfully sweet coffee, brewed in traditional long-necked copper pots called cezve.

He stated that while it is referred to as Turkish coffee by some, others call it Jerusalem coffee, Palestinian coffee, or Israeli coffee. However, personally, he likes to call it Palestinian coffee when he is in the mood, but when he wants to avoid political discussions, he refers to it as Jerusalem coffee.