Don't hurt the good neighbors

My mother keeps strictly kosher. She always has. She is the one who taught me about the connection between Judaism and Zionism. But, perhaps surprisingly, she is also the one who sent me to study in non-Jewish schools as a child. I began my elementary school education at the Catholic school in Jaffa, and went to high school at the nearby Scottish Protestant school.

Her traditional family found it strange, but my mother explained to me that there are also non-Jewish citizens in our country. Since our neighbors may be hard to deal with in the future, we must live in peace with those who live here, alongside us. She preached co-existence via good education, rather than through demonstrations and protests. However, who ever dared to criticize the Israel Defense Forces during the Lebanon War in 1982 in her presence was taking a big risk.

Speaking of the IDF, anytime there was a conflict between our neighbors and us, going to school became unpleasant. My friends Sammy, Raymond, Hassan and Ali would argue with me, sometimes raising their voices. I even remember how the math teacher, a Muslim Arab from Jaffa, called us aside and explained that we were there to study for exams, not start wars.

But even without the teacher's warning -- who among us ever thought about starting a fight? We were friends and we didn't agree on something -- we did not consider that unusual. They were and are Muslim Arabs and I was and still am an Israeli Jew who loves his country. We recognized our right to disagree but we also behaved respectfully. Together we waited for the school bell to ring, freeing us to go buy pita with sesame seeds at Abulafia bakery, where the bakers always spoiled us (especially me, the Jewish kid).

I remembered these images of Jaffa from my youth when I saw the Geocartography Research Institute's poll for Globes financial newspaper, in which 67 percent of Jewish consumers in Israel said they wouldn't buy from Arab shops. This, of course, follows Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's call to boycott Arab businesses that went on strike in protest of Operation Protective Edge. The call was made in response to Arab citizens -- and Jewish ones -- who expressed joy on social media at hurt Israeli soldiers. This is indeed a despicable phenomenon -- I also don't like to hear criticism about our soldiers or our wonderful pilots, and it also makes me sick to hear MK Hanin Zoabi, who in my opinion is just as much a traitor for doing a disservice to Arab citizens.

But we must learn where to draw the line between traitors and Israeli Arabs who find themselves in a complicated situation, even if I do not agree with my journalist friend Zuhair Bahloul who just the other day stated that it is impossible to be an Israeli Arab. The truth is that he and I are both lucky that Hashem (or Allah) chose us to live here. Because in all fairness, he would have to admit that today it is harder to be an Arab in Syria, Iraq or Lebanon. And yes, also in Gaza, under Hamas' regime.

I never completely left Jaffa behind. Recently I have been a guest several times on a foreign broadcasting network that is based in Jaffa. I see my friends, some of whom have become merchants, sitting in their shops that are barren of customers. I promised them that things would go back to normal after the war. Why? Because there's no choice. Because they should not pay the price for Hamas' war crimes. I stop at Abulafia bakery every morning -- which, by the way is always closed during Passover out of respect for the Jewish holiday, as opposed to the select yuppie cafes that will stay open during the eve of Tisha B'Av, the traditional day of mourning for the destruction of the Temple.

Let's return to my mother for a moment. This week I ate with her at my friend Moussa's restaurant Crown in Abu Ghosh -- a town that is dedicated and loyal to this country. My mom made an exception and ate at a restaurant without a kashrut certificate because, as she explained to me, during times like these,we should cheer on the IDF, continue striking the enemy and work to have the foreign media and the world understand Israel's stance. No less important is the need to remember that this war will end and we will not go to any other place. We have enough enemies, she said, so let's make friends with those live here with us, who hold the same passports that we do. And now, just as in 1982, anyone on TV who criticizes the IDF or this justified war, gets an earful from her.

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