Earlier this week, a Hamas rocket landed in Ashdod, killing Hani al-Mahdi, an Israeli-Arab construction worker. More than 10 civilians, mostly Arab, were also hurt in the attack. This attack received little to no attention in the mainstream media, which continues to focus on the well-tread story of Palestinian-Israeli enmity.
More pointedly, this tragedy was predictable. Since April 2001, Hamas has fired more than 7,650 rockets and mortars indiscriminately at Israeli civilian populations. It was only a matter of time before Israeli Arabs were hit, too.
Meanwhile, Haaretz reports that Israel has arrested at least 49 Israeli Arabs for disturbing the peace in protest of the Israeli counteroffensive in Gaza. Those arrested have hurled stones and set fires ablaze. Thus, although Israeli Arabs are in danger of Palestinian rocket fire, as Barak Seener noted in the pages of inFOCUS, they “are increasingly identifying with the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza.”
