For too long, many Israeli Arab Christians sympathized with the Palestinian cause. One of the mistakes the State of Israel made was classifying the Christians along with the Muslims as Arabs. Then made them susceptible to Arab nationalist propaganda. Time however are changing in the relations between the Israeli Arab Christians and the Israeli state.

Israel now has created a separate category for Arab Christians, thus recognizing them as a separate people from the Muslims. The rise of Islamism and death of Pan Arab Nationalism has exposed the deep hatred Muslims in the Arab world have for Christians. Seeing what has occurred to their coreligionists, many Israeli Arab Christians now realize that Jews are their natural allies. The result is that an increasing number of Israeli Arab Christians are joining the IDF or Police in Israel.

HEBRON HILLS, West Bank – Preparing his jeep for the short drive into the West Bank city of Hebron, where tensions between Palestinians and Israeli settlers often flare, Nabeel Sabbagh looked like every other Israeli Border Policeman serving at this hilltop base.

He was probably the only one with a crucifix tucked under his uniform.

An Arab Catholic from the northern Israeli city of Upper Nazareth, Sabbagh covered up the necklace “so it won’t get caught on anything — not to hide my religion.”

Sabbagh is one of the very small but growing number of Israel’s 160,000 indigenous Christians who, despite being exempt from military service, choose to do it on a voluntary basis. Others spend the year after high school performing civilian National Service in places like schools and hospitals.

Community leaders say the controversial trend stems from a desire to integrate more into the larger Israeli society, and the best way to do this, they believe, is by serving the country.

A graduate of an Israeli military high school, Sabbagh, 21, said he volunteered “because Israel is my country. I was born here. I live here and I’ll die here.”

[….]

Israel’s legislature, the Knesset, voted recently to give Christians a seat on the Equal Employment Opportunities advisory council to address job discrimination, and the U.S. State Department has rapped Israel in past reports for alleged failure to guarantee the rights of all Christians living there.

Christians here say they are treated better in Israel than anywhere else in the Middle East, but they want to be considered full citizens not only in the eyes of the law but of the people, as well. Joining in Israel’s defense is one way to do that, they say.

[….]

“If we don’t integrate we will remain marginalized,” says Shadi Haloul, spokesman for the Christian IDF Forum.

“This country protects us, gives us freedom of religion, so why shouldn’t I defend it?” said Haloul, 38, a former Israeli paratrooper.

Haloul is a Maronite Christian, followers of Christ who established a home in the northern mountains of Lebanon and trace their religious origin to Maron, a 5th-century monk and saint.

Haloul said volunteering for the military is a way for indigenous Christians to forge their own identity, distinct not only from Israel’s Muslims but from the Arab population as a whole. Most indigenous Christians claim they have an Arab heritage, but many like Haloul do not and the number who claim their own distinct ethnicity is growing.

“People forget that we Christians were here centuries before the Arabs conquered the land and forced us to speak the Arabic language. We are not Arabs and we are not Palestinians,” Haloul insisted.

Here is an Israeli Arab Christian female named Mona Lisa Abado who is a member of the IDF

Israel is often portrayed, even from within, as racist and hateful toward Arabs. Naturally, there couldn’t be any Arabs serving in the Israeli army, and certainly none proudly doing so.

Not so! The reality is that many thousands of Arabs and Arabic-speakers are not only Israeli soldiers, but outspoken advocates of both the IDF and the Jewish state they serve.

One of the Facebook pages for Arabs in the Israeli army posted a video interview this week with a young Mona Lisa Abdo, a young Israeli Arab Christian who recently completed her IDF service.

The video is in Arabic, so most of our readers won’t understand the narration or dialogue, but it remains a powerful rebuttal of all who claim that Israel is a racist, apartheid or otherwise discriminatory nation.

The Arabic intro text posted to Facebook along with the video read:

“Flashes of our Military: Mona Lisa Abdo – Mona Lisa tells us her unique story that deserves our respect and appreciation. Young Mona Lisa…volunteered to serve in the IDF, even though by law Israeli Christians are not conscripted. Mona Lisa not only volunteered for service, but struggled to join an infantry combat unit. Last week, she successfully completed her military service. We appreciate you Mona Lisa! You are a role model for us all.”

The video received numerous comments and remarks, most of them hostile. But the comment section was also notable for the not-insignificant number of replies by Israeli Arabs, writing in Hebrew, encouraging Mona Lisa to pay the haters no heed.

I hope Israeli Arab Christians continue their integration into the State of Israel. I am happy Israeli Jews are encouraging their ethnic cousins to help protect their common home.