"I was educated on the false perception of Israel as a Jewish apartheid state, one that does not grant Arabs their rights. The dramatic turning point for me happened in 2010, when I was exposed to the completely different truth. The truth will set you free!" Loay Alshareef tells Israel Hayom.
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Asked what it was that made him change his mind about the Jewish people, Alshareef explained he had been "living with a Jewish family in France, and I learned about the Bible and the shared tradition we have as Muslims and Jews, and I was exposed to the Jews' historic ties to the region, which is a settled fact and not the lie that they are colonizers. I changed my opinion about the Jews. At that same stage, I still had a negative view of Israel, and the transformation was completed four years ago, when I was exposed to the truth about Israel, which allows freedom of religion for those living there."
Around two years ago, Alshareef, an Abu Dhabi-based linguist and online influencer, was introduced to Arab Israeli public diplomacy activist and the CEO of the nongovernmental organization Together – Vouch for Each Other Yoseph Haddad.
Following the signing of the Abraham Accords that normalized Israel's ties with several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, the two attended the country's first-ever Holocaust memorial ceremony, which included survivors' recorded testimonies.
Haddad said: "During the event and afterward, I cried a lot." He said, "The Emiratis told me the ceremony made them understand the depth of the issue in a way they had never been exposed to before and that of course provides greater significance to what is being done in light of the Abraham Accords.
It is necessary to learn the history, and when an Arab Israeli learns about the Holocaust it serves as a catalyst for Jews to compromise with Arab society and bridge the gaps, without unnecessary racism," Haddad explained.
Alshareef added: "That unique event was highly emotional. It should also be noted here the role of those Muslims who helped Jews, in the midst of the human tragedy, to escape the gas chambers. For the sake of history and the future, God willing, may we have many memorial events like these in the United Arab Emirates. We will never forget."
April 22, 2019 (Ancho Gosh / JINI)
Haddad, a Nazareth resident whose opinion pieces often appear in Israel Hayom, emphasized: "You don't understand how thirsty the Emirati people were to for exposure to Israel, to Jewish society, and Arab Israeli society. Against this background, peace, openness, and this crazy connection developed. You feel something else in the atmosphere: 'God,' I told myself, 'They don't know us, and we don't know then,' but we wanted it so badly, and really, it was like falling in love."
An IDF veteran who was wounded in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Haddad volunteered for Israeli military service and served in the Golani combat unit. He has dedicated his life to telling people around the world about the opportunities Arab Israelis have in the country.
As for the importance of the Abraham Accords, he said, "For me, personally, it was fun to see how Arab Israeli society responded to this peace. It's very important to my mind. The Abraham Accords are not just important in their direct context but also for the fact that first and foremost, they shattered the premise that peace cannot be made with Arab states without promoting a peace process with the Palestinians. From this standpoint, we can talk about the change between Jews and Arabs."
As for Joint Arab List leader Ayman Odeh's assertion that the accords were an "illusion of peace," Haddad said, "There is criticism in Arab society over the Arab political representation that opposed the accords. When the Joint Arab List opposed them, it did not represent the Arab Israeli public. Period. In practice, when I flew to Dubai, 80% of the passengers spoke Arabic. Arab Israelis were just waiting to fly to Dubai and for business. This is our mother tongue, it's the most natural thing. From that place, the connection between Arabs in the Emirates and Jews here in Israel is natural. The leaders are warming ties, and the peoples are connected as it is."
Alshareef interjects, saying he knows "a lot of Arab Israel, among them Muslims, Christians, and Druze, who are proud of their Israeliness. In contrast, the fact that there are still Arab Israelis with Israeli citizenship who accuse Israel of war crimes against the Palestinians and are not loyal to it is inconceivable to my mind. They, alongside the Palestinian, anti-Israeli propaganda are part of the problem, concealing the truth, which is the complete opposite. To our delight, we now have social media, and the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities in particular, that are helping create a new reality for Jews who live in the [Arab] Gulf."
He said: "Following the signing of the Abraham Accords, anything is possible now! I have met so many Jews for whom an Arab state is one in which 'they want to destroy us,' and for them, the Abraham Accords constitute a new and important cognitive insight."
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