Kasem, who works as a nurse at the Galilee Medical Center, was awarded the medal for saving the life of Mor Janashvili during the recent nationwide riots between Jews and Arabs that overlapped with the escalation in Gaza.
Janashvili who was visiting his mother last month in Acre when dozens of Arab Israelis tried to lynch him, stabbing him with knives and assaulting him with rocks and sticks. Even after he got out of his car and tried to run away, they continued to attack him.
“I arrived at the scene together with a sheikh from Acre and several other residents from the Arab sector in order to calm the winds,” Kasem, 28, explained. “Immediately, I saw Mor lying on the ground. The only thing I could think of was how to save him. It didn’t occur to me if he was Jewish or Arab.”
Kasem shielded Janashvili with his own body while he bandaged his wounds. Then, he offered support to Janashvili’s mother, who had fainted at the sight of her injured son.
“I promised her that I would take care of him,” Kasem, who had Janashvili transferred to the Galilee Medical Center, said.
Prof. Yuval Elbashan, Dean of Ono’s Multicultural Campuses, who gave him the award, noted that "Fadi carried out an act that many others did not have the courage to do."
"With his courage and actions, when he ran into the social inferno to save a man who was ostensibly from the other side, he served as a moral role model for all of us and demonstrated the highest, most exalted social responsibility," Prof. Elbashan said.
"We will learn about his deed in all the tracks and faculties at Ono," he added.
A few days after the assault, Kasem visited the young man in his hospital bed and the two embraced. But then Janashvili told his new friend that he was unlikely to go back to Acre in the near future.
“Don’t talk like that,” Kasem said. “Even in 2008, when there were severe riots in Acre, people did not believe coexistence would return, and here everything is back to normal. Overall, most Acre residents are good people, sane people who advocate coexistence.
“We will stay in touch and I will take you to eat hummus in Old Acre,” he continued. “We are like a family. My home is your home.”