Arabs and Bedouins join Israel’s war on Hamas despite accusations of ‘treachery’

As the first from his Muslim village to volunteer for the Israeli army, life was not easy for Fadel Faour, who now finds himself on the front line of the Gaza war.

After he volunteered, his dreams of becoming a religious leader, or ‘‘sheikh’’, were dashed, with his family and friends branding him a traitor for serving in what they see as an occupying force.

Since signing up, he knew going to war was always a possibility, but on Oct 7, he came face to face with the biggest conflict seen in the country in decades as he took on Hamas terrorists.

Faour is one of a growing number of Israel’s Arab and Bedouin minorities volunteering with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a pathway to escaping poverty and crime in the Arab towns and villages they live in.

He said: “In the last Lebanon war, rockets were fired and also hit the Arabs in Nazareth and the nearby villages. We live here together. Protecting the country from the terrorists on our borders is important for all of us, Muslims, Jews, all of us here. The army needs us and we need the army, so I feel that it is my duty to enlist and protect everyone, Jews or Arabs.”

Now, two years after signing up, his resolve is unwavering. 

The invasion of thousands of Hamas troops on Oct 7 by land, sea and air led to at least five Bedouins being taken hostage into Gaza. Two are missing and dozens were murdered.

“As a Muslim who is the only soldier in your village, everyone asks why I enlisted. They would argue that I used to be religious, I wanted to be a sheikh [religious leader], and in the end I’m going to the army,” he said.

“But as both Israelis and Palestinians, we need to eradicate terror, we need to protect our civilians.”

Proud of uniform

Seven other men from his village have since followed him. While the IDF’s Jewish soldiers must come to work in their fatigues, for Arab soldiers it is not mandatory, but he walks proudly through his village wearing his uniform, which he says affords him a newfound respect in Israeli society.

“It wasn’t easy, but I had a clear idea of why I was doing it and, in time, people have mostly come to accept it. I feel a sense of pride wearing this uniform and have been accepted into Israeli society much more than I ever could have without it.”

His service has allowed him to befriend people from all parts of Israeli society for the first time, including Jews, Christians and Druze.

“It took time for us to get to know each other but now we are blood brothers.

“In the end we eat from the same plates, and sleep in the same rooms,” he said.

While Jews, Druze and Circassians are conscripted into the IDF, the Bedouin and Israeli Arabs, Christians and Muslims are not obliged to serve. An estimated 1,500 Bedouin are currently serving in the IDF. Around 606 Muslim Arabs volunteered to serve in 2020 compared with 436 in 2018.

Through the army, soldiers can access education, career support and a route into Israeli society. Some are even afforded the opportunity to erase their criminal records.

“This was the best decision I made for my future,” he said.

“After the service this will give me many more opportunities in life whether I want to go to university, to be in hi-tech, a doctor, totally the opposite of everyone in my village,” added Faour.

Col Shadi Othman, a Druze Israeli who heads recruitment, said the pandemic changed the face of the IDF for many Arab communities.

Free university courses

“Once the home front command came into villages to give them help and medical assistance, they started to see the military as a service body and not just in a bad light. The fact soldiers were treating the elderly also made them open to the idea of their children joining the military and it humanised the force.”

Before soldiers are discharged, the army provides support for the volunteers, including Hebrew classes, CV-writing support and training for a driver’s licence.

Those in the ‘soldier-student’ programme also receive free university courses.

Israel is seeing a growing trend of young Israeli Arabs classified as “idle”, neither in employment nor in education or training. The state comptroller’s report released earlier this year found almost a third of Arabs in Israel aged 18-24 are idle, twice as many as the OECD average.

For Bedouins, as many as 25 per cent do not finish high school and generally among the Arab community, the pressure is on boys to go to work to support the family.

The chief operations officer of the unit, Major Ahmed Khojirat, a Bedouin from northern Israel, has been in the IDF for nine years.

Unlike many in his community, he thinks service should be mandatory for all citizens. As air attacks grow increasingly frequent from Hezbollah in Lebanon just a few kilometres from his home near the border, his commitment to the army is stronger than ever.

“We are all united in the goal of protecting our country from terror,” he said. “Our commander is Jewish, the deputy commander is Bedouin, our office staff is Jewish, I have Christian soldiers, I am Muslim, and we have some Circassians and Druze. I wish Israeli society looked more like this too with us all working together. I think there is still a long way to go in terms of integrating these minority populations into Israeli society, but in the army we do it in a much more advanced way,” he explained.

Arab recruits

For the young Israeli Jews teaching the Arab recruits, it has also been a life-changing experience. Lia Cohen, who teaches the recruits English, Hebrew and computer studies, said: “In the beginning, the cultural gap was the most difficult for me. I imagined something specific in my head before I got here and suddenly, when I got here, all the stigmas were shattered in my eyes. I met amazing people.

“Most people in Israel are not really exposed to this population and there is a very large gap between what people think and what actually happens in reality. The confrontation [here] is between people who simply don’t understand each other.”

Inbar Kafka, 20, who teaches cultural aspects of Israeli life such as religious holidays and history, said the experience has provided a profound way to create common bonds. “We learn new things about each other all the time. We are exposed to their culture no less than they are exposed to ours, learning about their ceremonies, traditional dances.

“It’s really like experiencing the entire Israeli spectrum in one battalion, like an incubator. It’s sad that it feels cut off from the country, but here it feels like there is no difference in religion, where you came from, what your past is, and that everyone is starting a new and common beginning here.”