On Monday night, social activist Yousef Haddad addressed Daniel Greenberg's concerns about the presence of Arab gardeners near her children's kindergarten on his Instagram account. In a long post dedicated to her, he tried to explain why she was wrong and damaging the delicate social fabric in Israel. Greenberg did not remain obliged and answered Haddad.
"Why do I have to take the children to my kindergarten and see Arab gardeners with tools in their hands working in the garden in an adjacent playground?" asked Greenberg in a story that triggered Haddad's post. "The Rehovot municipality, it's not great, not even jokingly. Surrey, but there is no faith and the anxiety is great at this time," she wrote. Later, when she apparently received backlash from netizens, she continued to stand her ground. "Not pretty. I stopped playing what you want to hear a long time ago. That's my opinion and these are my feelings. There has been no faith for me since the seventh of October."
Daniel Greenberg, Photo: Nir Pekin
"Hi Daniel," Haddad wrote in a post dedicated to her words. "So many Israeli Arabs have sent me the things you wrote in a number of stories that talk about losing your faith in Arabs in general. It is important for me to tell you first of all that I am not naïve and I can understand what you feel, but, and there is a very big grief – it is absolutely forbidden to generalize! It serves the extremists and actually hurts me and people with opinions like mine from Arab society who want to belong," Haddad explained to Greenberg.
"The extremists are looking for ways to separate and are hanging on to such content that could harm the partnership. By the way, this is what Hamas wants to happen, that there will be a split between Jews and Arabs, that Israeli Arabs will be part of the campaign. Israeli Arabs were also part of the October 7 victims. Arabs saved lives with insane acts of courage, the Arab fighters from the Bedouin Battalion are now on the Gaza border. There are Arabs who contribute to Israeli public diplomacy. There are doctors from society who work hard to save lives. We are part of the campaign against Hamas! There has never been a situation in which so many voices in Arab society openly sided with the state.
"What we need now is reinforcement and support. This is the way to keep this partnership here. I'm writing to you, and I'm actually writing to everyone. Please don't lose hope. Don't let extremists and separatists win over the sane voice. Avoid generalizations and help us bring about a true Israeli partnership. Together and only together we will win!" he ruled.
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Greenberg replied to Haddad both in a story and in a private message. "I appreciate you and what you do, and by the way the best so far," Greenberg gushed in front of her hundreds of thousands of followers. In a private message, she continued: "I appreciate you very much as a human being and you do an amazing job for our country. I hope that one day quiet will return to the country from all directions. At the moment everything is fresh, there is no one to blame. Everyone is anxious and afraid, no longer knowing what and whom to believe. I just know that today I have two children to raise and look after and part of being a mother is also being anxious for their safety.
"So for them alone, I posted the series of stories about the work around their garden. By the way, I'm not the only one. They were contacted even before that, and it was taken care of. The allegations were clear to everyone. These days, reassuring the public is no less important. However, may we know better days and sound health for all," she concluded.
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