PragerU often features figures who dare to defy political correctness. In a new video, “An Arab Muslim in the Israeli Army,” Israeli Air Force reservist Mohammad Kabiya shares his incredible journey as an Israel-supporting Muslim Arab.
“I am an Arab. I am a Muslim. And I love my country. In fact, I’m prepared to die for it. Which is why I serve in its army,” he opens the short. “I don’t have to do this. I want to do this. Because my country is a special place, unlike any other. Free. Diverse. Vibrant. Yet, other countries, countries not so free, not so diverse, call for my country’s complete destruction. The moment my country lets its guard down, it will be destroyed.”
He declares, “My country is Israel.”
Kabiya tells how his family grew up in a village named for his people, the Bedouin Arabs. When the Arab nations invaded in 1948, his family considered leaving the country. At the behest of the Israeli government, they stayed to help build the country up.
“In 2002, I was a teenager,” he explains. “It was a violent time. Palestinian suicide bombers were blowing up Israeli civilians — a danger to Arabs and Jews alike. Israeli troops entered to the West Bank to stop them at their source. As a result, many Palestinians were killed.”
He continues, “I was torn. Whose side was I on, I thought: Israel’s or the Palestinians’? Is it possible to be an Arab and an Israeli? The question became even more difficult when I saw men from my own village wearing the uniform of the Israeli army. Only Jews are required to serve in the military. No one forced these Arab men to join; they chose to. ‘Why?’ I asked them.”
Kabiya adds, “‘Our home is here, in Israel,’ they said. ‘Our home is under attack. Our neighbors in this home are Jews. They are being attacked. We fight together.'”
After some soul-searching and seeing firsthand the destruction of the terror group Hamas, Kabiya decided to join the Israeli military. It is a remarkable story.
Watch the video below:
