8 | APRIL 15 • 2021 

guest column
Let’s Heal the Jewish-
Arab Rift in Israel
H

ealing occurs only 
when we look at the 
other face-to-face. 
— The Zohar.
Do we Jews in Israel truly 
wish for coexistence and mutual 
respect among all 
of Israel’s varied 
communities? If 
we do, we would 
do well to craft 
an appropriate 
response to MK 
Mansour Abbas’ 
groundbreaking 
April 1 speech.
As head of the Islamic 
Movement’s Ra’am Party, Abbas 
reached out to the Jewish 
majority and called for part-
nership, tolerance and careful 
listening between the groups. 
Without wading into complex 
political questions, there is a 
need for Jewish leaders to reach 
out to the Arab community in 
Israel with warmth and open-
ness and welcome them to 
participate fully in building a 
society that works for everyone.
Such overtures can be diffi-
cult, stemming from profound 
differences in opinion between 

the groups and from each side’s 
criticism of the other. Still, if 
we wait for perfection, for the 
problems and complexities to 
disappear, we will find ourselves 
waiting forever. 
Let us start instead from the 
opposite direction: “Connection 
before correction.
” This apt 
expression, which I learned 
in an interfaith convention in 
Jordan, teaches that change can 
come about when we emphasize 
connection and communica-
tion.

REJECT CYNICISM
That said, many Jews distrust 
conciliatory speeches given 
by Arab leaders, suspecting 
that they are merely paying 
lip service to cooperation and 
masking their true intentions in 
order to achieve their political 
aims. It is easy to be cynical 
and wonder if their message in 
Arabic matches their friendly 
words in Hebrew or English.
For many of us, it does not 
feel as though the other side is 
a genuine and sincere “partner.
” 
But from years of personal 
experience with the Arab com-

munity, I can attest to their 
warmth and desire for connec-
tion with the Jewish commu-
nity. Here are three pertinent 
examples, taken from my visits 
to Arab schools in Israel.
Kafr Qasim is the birthplace 
of the Islamic Movement and 
remains a stronghold of the 
organization today. I visited 
the comprehensive high school 
there recently, at a recognition 
ceremony for students who par-
ticipated in volunteer activities 
to help during the COVID-19 
period. The students were 
touched that a rabbi had come, 
and every student awarded a 
certificate also had their picture 
taken with me.
While there, I discussed 
the problem of religious vio-
lence with my friend Sheik 
Iyad Ammar, who is both the 
principal of the school and 
the Imam of Kafr Qasim. He 

shared with me that when he 
delivered a sermon after the 
murder of Esther Horgan [the 
mother of six who was slain 
by a terrorist while hiking in a 
West Bank forest], he vigorously 
denounced the murder and 
declared to those assembled at 
the mosque that such a heinous 
act could never be Allah’s will. 
His speech followed in the 
footsteps of his teacher, Sheik 
Abdullah Namir Darwish, who 
founded the Islamic Movement 
in Israel and publicly con-
demned terror attacks.
A second example, from 
the city of Rahat, whose com-
prehensive high school is the 
largest Arab school in the south, 
with over 1,000 students: Before 
the COVID-19 outbreak, my 
friend Sheik Jamal al-Ubara ini-
tiated a “Tolerance Day” there 
and invited me to participate 
along with representatives of 

Yakov Nagen
Times of 
Israel

PURELY COMMENTARY

continued on page 10

tutions in Europe and in the 
United States.
The two new definitions 
raise issues worthy of con-
sideration. But the guidelines 
they recommend represent the 
views of a smaller, mostly aca-
demic, constituency. Neither 
text provides a serious alter-
native to the IHRA definition, 
which, among its virtues, is 
also a succinct 580 words, 

making it easily digested and 
utilized as a practical guide 
by law enforcement and other 
security officials.
For those who have for 
years battled the scourge of 
antisemitism, IHRA has prov-
en to be an essential tool. It 
has already been adopted by 
nearly 30 countries and hun-
dreds of public and private 
institutions, such as univer-

sities, local governments and 
law enforcement agencies, and 
enjoys a degree of consensus 
that would be difficult or 
impossible for another instru-
ment to achieve. There is no 
doubt that false and reckless 
charges of antisemitism are a 
hindrance to the battle against 
antisemitism. But rather than 
campaign for an alternative 
tool, those involved in the 

fight should support the 
continued use of the IHRA 
Definition according to the 
manner in which it was origi-
nally drafted and adopted. 

Ira N. Forman served as the State 
Department’s Special Envoy to 
Monitor and Combat Antisemitism 
from 2013-2017. He is a former 
executive director of the National 
Jewish Democratic Council.

ANTISEMITISM continued from page 4

Sheik Jamal 
tends to 
the author’s 
accidental 
injury in Rahat, 
Israel, north of 
Beersheba.

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