The writer is the head of the news division at Radio Nas and a news commentator 12
An unconventional consensus took place this week in Arab society. The High Monitoring Committee for the Arab Public in Israel, the Committee of the Heads of the Arab Authorities, the Steering Committee for the Arabs of the Negev, the joint list and part of the Ram, hastened to condemn the attack in Be’er Sheva, expressing condolences to the bereaved families and speedy recovery. .
Moreover, this is one of the important moments of Arab society itself, especially in recent times, in the shadow of political polarization. All Arab society stood as one front without exception, no matter how small or marginal a party or political movement it may have been, it did not refrain from condemning the attack carried out by Muhammad Galeb Abu al-Qian, from the village of Hura in the Negev.
What has changed this time? Why was the condemnation wall-to-wall on the part of the entire Arab leadership, while in other cases it is difficult to hear one clear voice? The answer to that is that nothing has changed. The issue of condemnation of terrorist attacks in Arab society is complex and charged, but the Arab leadership has fairly clear rules, which are not always exposed to the general public – certainly not the Jewish public.
Identifying the hazard had an impact
Abu al-Qi’an, who decided to embark on a killing spree this week, is 34 years old, married and the father of five children, and a former school teacher a girl. Despite his normative resume, he is a former ISIS operative who tried to flee to Syria in 2015 and join the organization’s fighting forces, and then recruit more civilians from Arab society in Israel. After being arrested in 2016, he was sentenced to four years in prison, but was released in 2019.
Abu al-Qiaan’s relatives were convinced that the deep remorse he expressed before the court was sincere and genuine. “We thought he had really stopped supporting ISIS and preaching the way the organization is doing,” said one of the family’s associates. “It turns out he cheated on everyone.” For this reason, the family rushed to issue a press release condemning the attack. The message of condemnation of his family was the sharpest of all the messages that came out of Arab society.
However, as stated, the rules of Arab society regarding condemnation of terrorist attacks are relatively clear. In the case of Be’er Sheva, this is an easy attack to condemn. Abu al-Qi’an is an ISIS operative, and not any other non-Palestinian organization, and more importantly, it is an attack on innocent civilians. The guideline is who the victim is and where the attack took place. Accordingly, attacks against soldiers in occupied territories are unlikely to be condemned from the floor.
Although there were those who broke the unwritten rules in the past, and also condemned attacks that do not fit so well with the definition, such as RAAM and Hadash – which also condemned attacks against soldiers for various reasons and at different times – but this is not the majority opinion.
Violence that also threatens the Arabs
But that’s not the point at all. After all, everyone understood why this attack should be condemned, very simply – because it is a heinous act of murder. The internal discussion that actually came out of a hole in the Negev was important. “I want the entire Arab leadership in the Negev not only to denounce and condemn the attack, but also to work to prevent such an attack in the future,” said Nafaz Abu al-Qi’an, one of the terrorist’s relatives.
In addition, the Negev Local Authorities Forum ordered school principals to open the school day in all Bedouin localities in the Negev, a day after the attack, in a special class on education for tolerance and against violence and extremism. Another relative of Abu al-Qi’an explicitly asked law enforcement agencies to monitor the social networks of young Arabs, especially young residents of the Negev. “There is inciting and violent content that threatens Arabs and Jews alike,” he claimed close. “ISIS extremism is spreading everywhere in these networks.”
The violence in the style of Abu al-Qi’an Mahura threatens not only Jews passing through Be’er Sheva, but also Arabs who do not think like him. Between 2014 and 2017, more than 50 Arab citizens expressed support or contacted ISIS for various reasons. The numbers have since faded, of course, and the purpose of the Arab reaction of the Arab society against the attack in Be’er Sheva was to reduce them even further, and to prevent any imitation attack in the future. Arab society wants every such despicable perpetrator to know that no one will accompany him on his final journey, and that even his immediate family will be ashamed of his actions and publicly condemn them. Indeed, this is what Arab society did this week, and this is what should always be done.