Appearing on Israel’s most prominent newscast has placed Mohammad Magadli in the spotlight as a leading commentator, bringing a crucial voice from the country’s Arab minority sector to the broader population.
However, while the 33-year-old from the Arab city of Baka al-Gharbia is now an easily recognizable face appearing regularly on Channel 12 News, the highest-rated news program in Israel, his journey to becoming a household name in Israel has not been simple.
And the role of representing his community while managing the expectations of the mainstream Israeli media has become much harder over the past two years as the war in Gaza raged.
Family connections
Known for his eloquent Hebrew and sharp political insights, Magadli said he never thought about being part of Israel’s exclusive media landscape.
“It was never my childhood dream to be in Israeli Hebrew-speaking media,” he told The Jerusalem Report in a recent interview. “My dad pushed me into that.”
Raised in a well-educated, elite Arab Israeli family, Magadli did draw inspiration from his father, Raleb Magadli, a former government minister and prominent member of the Knesset.
And, he said, he has always believed that Arab citizens in Israel have a vital role as “a bridge between Israel and the Arab world.”
“When visiting Arab countries even before the Abraham Accords, I saw that they don’t truly understand that Arabs and Jews live here together, that there is a shared life between us in Israel,” Magadli said.
Constant conflict
For him, navigating his job as an Arab figure in the public eye means living in constant conflict between his society and the Israeli-Jewish public.
“I am against racism and the occupation [of Palestinian lands by Israel] and believe in peace,” Magadli stated, adding, “I am part of the Palestinian people but also an Israeli citizen who respects this country and its laws, and I don’t see a contradiction between these two things.
“In the Arab world, for example, they see Arab citizens here as traitors or collaborators [with Israel], while at the same time Jewish Israelis treat us as if we want to destroy the State of Israel,” he explained.
Bridging a gap
After working for the Israeli-based i24 Arabic news channel as the presenter of the main broadcast, as well as at the Palestinian Musawa TV in Ramallah, Magadli said he saw the media gap firsthand.
“The Israeli media doesn’t really understand what’s going on in Palestinian and Arab society, and the Palestinian media also doesn’t get the Israeli side,” he stressed.
Magadli soon found himself caught in the middle of two “worlds” that deeply misunderstand each other. When, a few years ago, political changes began to emerge in Arab society, with some Arab political parties expressing interest in joining the governing coalition, and as violent crime intensified in Arab towns and cities across Israel, Magadli decided it was time to take the next step.
“At that point, I saw that the Israeli media doesn’t cover the Arab community properly,” he said. “It was around 2019, and there was a decision to establish the local Arabic-speaking Radio Nas in Nazareth, which I joined, and then I got the opportunity to work for Channel 12.
“I said to myself, ‘My society calls me; they need someone to reflect their reality to the Jewish society,’” said Magadli, reflecting on his journey to the most widely watched outlet in mainstream Israeli media.
Challenging situations
But the opportunities didn’t come without difficulties.
“When I first started working in the Israeli media, I lost a lot of friends from the Palestinian society,” he recalled, describing how some in Arab countries labeled him as “not Arab” or accused him of supporting the Israeli narrative.
Yet, while he faced a boycott by some outside Israel, the reactions he got from Arabs within the country were the complete opposite.
“Many here from the Arab society started to tell me, ‘You represent us. Thank you for what you are doing. You make us proud,’” Magadli said.
Although he had faced some challenging situations as an Arab journalist throughout his career, the toughest part came on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, and the war in Gaza that followed.
“On that day, I felt sad. But besides the sadness, I also felt shame after I saw that there were Palestinians kidnapping and killing women and elderly people,” he said. “Then, as the war in Gaza continued, I also felt sad for people who lost their homes, and faced hunger in Gaza, and for the innocent residents who had no connection to Hamas and even hated it, who were suffering.”
Refusing to listen
What struck him most was how he was welcomed by Israeli society when he spoke out against Hamas’s massacre, expressing solidarity with the Israeli victims, but was attacked when he started raising what was happening inside Gaza.
“When I talk about Palestinian suffering in Israeli media, Israelis don’t want to listen; and when I speak about Israeli suffering on Arab or Palestinian media, they don’t want to listen, either.”
According to Magadli, Arab voices in Israeli media have been highly marginalized after October 7.
“Israeli society doesn’t want to hear or see Arabs, and that’s a painful reality because ignoring what’s happening on the other side might unfortunately lead to another October 7,” he lamented.
“People in Israel think that military achievements and force are what can protect them, but I say ‘no,’ and this is something Israelis need to understand: that they have to turn these things into diplomatic solutions.
“My goal is to explain to Israelis the things they don’t see coming out of Gaza, and also to show the Arab world that there are Israelis here that want to live in peace with Arabs,” he said.
The Arab perspective
When asked about Arab media coverage of Israel, he acknowledged that it has been unbalanced.
“Just as I was angry about Israeli coverage of Gaza, I was also angry about how Arab media covered Israel,” he said, noting the denial of Hamas’s atrocities among some.
“There were those who didn’t believe that women and elderly were murdered. They especially found it hard to accept that Muslim Arabs in Israel were also among the victims. I had to show them testimonies to prove these things were real,” he said, urging Palestinians to acknowledge that the atrocities happened, so that both sides can move forward and solve their problems.
“Palestinians are not convinced they committed war crimes on October 7, and Israelis are not convinced that internationally unacceptable actions were committed in Gaza,” Magadli added.
Magadli also pointed out that relations between Jews and Arabs within Israel have reached their lowest point. However, he refuses to give up. Part of the solution, he said, is to have new leadership on all sides.
“The current government in Israel is radical, with some ministers supporting the transfer of Arabs, and inciting against them,” he said. “This has to stop. It’s not about right or left wing, it’s about having a government which doesn’t endorse radicalism.”
As for Palestinians, Magadli believes they should get rid of both Hamas and Fatah.
“There is no future with the existence of these two organizations that control the lives of Palestinians,” he said. “Palestinians deserve more; they need different leadership.”
He also called for change in the Arab leadership in Israel and said that he believes “all peoples on this land should live together as equals without either side feeling superior or privileged over the other.”
Remaining optimistic, Magadli said he is committed to staying in Israel despite receiving tempting job offers from abroad, hoping that his children will be born into a safer and more peaceful place.
“This is my greatest wish, that my Arab and Jewish friends and I will all live in a better reality,” he concluded.■