Early in the morning of October 7, Wahid Al-Hazeel from Rahat was sitting in his house in Rahat with some of his family members. Suddenly, sirens sounded, and a barrage of rockets came shooting down. Soon enough, videos of armed gunmen breaking into Israeli towns began circulating on his social media accounts, and then another barrage, this time of messages of friends and neighbors looking for family members who were working that morning in the kibbutzim of the Gaza Envelope.
Al-Hazeel, a former major in the IDF and ex-commander of the Bedouin brigade, who was well known by the Israeli public in 2008 after thwarting a Hamas terror attack involving three car bombs in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, quickly responded by setting up a war room dedicated to locating and assisting Bedouin citizens in midst of all the confusion and chaos.
“At first, we thought like everyone that this would be a short event, but as the hours passed, we began to get a sense of the scale and the numbers of those who were either injured, missing, murdered, or kidnapped.”
Twenty-one Bedouin Israelis were murdered in the Hamas massacre of October 7, in addition to five Arab Israelis from the north. Seven of them - a woman and six children - were killed by a rocket fired by Hamas, which landed in their home not far from Kuseifa in the Negev desert, and the rest were murdered from a close range during the lethal raid of Hamas terrorists in Israeli towns and at the Nova party in Re’im.
Additionally, seven Bedouin Israelis were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists, with five remaining there today, after siblings Aisha (17) and Belal (18) Ziadneh were released in the last exchange deal in December. One of those still held by Hamas is Hisham Al-Sayed, who was kidnapped almost nine years ago by the terrorist group.
The war room set up by Al-Hazeel on October 7 soon evolved into an initiative he named “The Civil Forum for Those Harmed among the Negev Bedouins.”
The Forum aims to provide aid to the bereaved families, as well as families of the kidnapped, in various fields: from material help to families who were left without a main breadwinner, to psychological aid for children, and even fun activities to help cope with the harsh experiences and losses. They do this along with the Resilience Center for the Bedouin Community, located in Rahat, “though we physically reach any family anywhere needed.”
“We try to hug and stabilize the families and build educational, social, and even economic programs for the affected. We treat between 100-150 families with different degrees of needs. It’s all very new for the Bedouin community in Israel,” he says, referring to the well-known Israeli existential condition of grief and bereavement as a result of terror attacks.
Al-Hazeel also said he aims to build a memorial and form yearly ceremonies in honor of the fallen and the heroes from the Bedouin society in Israel, but what is missing now is funding.
“We have yet to find a clear address on the governmental level, but for now, the Diaspora Ministry, led by Minister Amichai Chikli, is chipping in, which is very much appreciated.”
Another challenge facing the Bedouin society is the issue of safe-proofing houses or installing “miguniyot” (portable safe room units made of concrete).
Government figures show that the Bedouin society is at least 11,000 units short, an undoubtedly costly matter. However, according to Al-Hazeel, the government is working these days on a plan that will eventually empower and train Bedouin communities to self-produce these units.
“The Bedouin and Jewish societies in Israel have different cultural codes, which make our challenges and needed treatment measures differ from the ones facing the Jewish society,” adds Al-Hazeel. “For instance, the issue of trauma and psychological assistance is still widely stigmatized, and many parents don’t take their children to get examined out of this fear, which means that we, in turn, can’t sometimes know who needs help in this field. There’s also the problem of violence in the Arab sector, with which we must deal on a different level. We need to help our youth turn away from the path of radicalization.”
"How do you think that this can be achieved?"
“I believe that it all starts with national service. It must be legislated as mandatory for all 18-year-olds in Israel, regardless of creed or ethnicity. Of course, not everyone is fit to join the IDF, but there are plenty of other choices, including Magen David Adom, the Fire and Rescue Services, communal police, and more. National service, employment, psychological assistance – all of these can be of great help in coping with our challenges as a society.”
“Our society as a whole disavows Hamas and views them as a group which does not represent Islam in any way and which harms the very fabric of relations between Jews and Arabs," He adds. "The Jewish and Bedouin societies in Israel are partners in life and in destiny. Somewhere between 2,000-2,500 Bedouins work in agriculture in Jewish towns. Success in handling the challenges of the Bedouin community will also project as a success for the Jewish community, and of Israel as a whole. Despite all the hardships and challenges, I believe that as a society, we will be able to overcome them together."