I am writing this on October 7, 2024, but for Jews, it is still October 7, 2023, and it will continue to be for a while yet. As an Arab, there is nothing to say about October 7 in addition to what Jews everywhere have already said and are saying today much better than I could.
But as an Arab, there is one thing that I can say on behalf of my fellow Arabs to Jews everywhere: I am sorry. I am deeply sorry. What my people have done to your people on October 7, after October 7, before October 7, and for decades and even centuries before that, is inexcusable. It can never be repaired.
Maybe one day we will have peace, but October 7 and all the horrors that we have inflicted on you will not be erased. It would have been so easy for us to accept Israel’s independence in May 1948, but hatred led us to war, an endless war that continues to this day and that we are still unable to accept responsibility for.
Not many Arabs join me today in saying these words. Most are still unable to accept that Israel has the right to exist. Most still choose hatred over reconciliation, even in my country Lebanon that has suffered enormously from its hatred of Israel, and that continues to suffer every day from it.
But for those of us who choose light over darkness and acceptance over hatred, all that we can do is to stand with the Jews and Israel for as long as it takes. Some of us are even fighting proudly for Israel in the Israel Defense Forces.
We support Israel’s right to defend itself, and even more importantly, Israel’s right to do what is needed to deter its enemies. We cannot repair or negate what our fellow Arabs have done and are doing to the Jews, but we can push in the other direction, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.
