Even as war rages in Gaza, Israel’s Arabs are feeling more Israeli

“Opeople in the Negev, in the Galilee and the Triangle, set the ground ablaze under the feet of the invading occupiers through killing, burning, destruction and roadblocks.” The command came from Muhammad Deif, Hamas’s military chief, as he unleashed the horrors of October 7th. It was aimed at Israel’s Arabs, who make up a fifth of its population. They have not answered his call. “We all agree that civilians should be outside the theatre of battle,” says Muhammad Barakeh, the head of the High Follow-Up Committee, an umbrella group of Arab factions in Israel.