JNS
The Arab Israeli activist is leading a 14-member delegation of Christians, Muslims and Druze across U.S. campuses, and to Congress, to counter claims of “apartheid” and to confront anti-Israel propaganda.
Yoseph Haddad, an Arab-Israeli from Nazareth, once took on Israel’s foes as a Golani Brigade commander. As CEO of Together Vouch for Each Other, which bridges gaps between Jews and Arabs in Israel, his attention is on a different threat to the Jewish state: American college campuses.
“We are sleeping in the arena of propaganda,” Haddad, 40, told JNS. “We still have one weapon they don’t. The truth backed by facts. And we’re not using it enough.”
Haddad spoke with JNS on the sixth day of a trip, which runs through Nov. 23, to the United States that his group is leading with 14 Arab-Israeli activists.
The delegation had just finished its visit to New York City, where the Arab Christians, Muslims and Druze on the trip protested outside United Nations headquarters in Turtle Bay and Grand Central Terminal. Haddad also spoke at Columbia University, which has been one of the campuses in the nation with the most conspicuous incidents of Jew-hatred since Oct. 7.
The group’s next stop is Washington, D.C., where the delegation plans to protest outside the White House and to meet with members of Congress on Capitol Hill.
One of the main goals of the trip is to dismantle the myth that Israel is an apartheid state, according to Haddad, who has been posting footage from the trip to his Instagram account, which has nearly 925,000 followers.
“I always use a very simple sentence,” he told JNS. “I, as an Arab, was a commander over Jewish soldiers in the IDF. Are you going to tell me Israel is an apartheid state?”
“I was a commander over Jewish soldiers,” he said. “Come on.”
The delegation’s Monday visit to Columbia was especially meaningful for Haddad. A year earlier, his planned lecture there was canceled after, he said, a masked protester assaulted him during an anti-Israel demonstration off campus. He suffered a concussion and bloody lip and filed a police complaint, he told JNS.
“Extremists exist both inside Israel and outside,” he said. “That gives me more motivation. I don’t want them to win. They’re a minority, but loud and violent. They scare the silent majority.”
Haddad’s family has supported his activism despite threats to them, he told JNS. His mother was hospitalized with a broken hand after being assaulted, he said.
Support from the Israeli public, including letters, flowers and gifts sent to her home in Nazareth, “helped her recover” and strengthened his determination to continue being one of the few Arab-Israeli voices publicly challenging extremists, he said.
“People ask, ‘Why are they scared?’ Look what happens to me the second I speak,” he said. “I’m one of the most threatened people in Israel. Since Oct. 7, Hamas even issued a fatwa on my head.”
“Many people like me are scared to speak because of extremists,” he said. “The only reason I can keep talking is the support of my family and the majority of Israelis.”
Haddad founded Together Vouch for Each Other in 2018. Much of his work involves speaking to audiences that have never encountered anyone who identifies openly and proudly as both Arab and Israeli.
“What the international media and social media say about our country, especially about minorities, is 180 degrees opposite of our reality,” he told JNS. “Our country isn’t perfect, but the picture people abroad have is a lie.”
“Just by being there and speaking about our personal reality,” he added, “we expose the lie of those who define Israel as an apartheid state.”
Through in-person debates and discussions, Haddad has changed the minds of those who accused Israel of genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, he told JNS.
He recalled an incident in Johannesburg, where he lectured 120 students, mostly Black, during “apartheid week.” (South Africa has accused Israel of war crimes, including in international court.)
“When I spoke, I made comparisons between my life and the life of those who suffered from real apartheid,” he said. He cited Salim Joubran, a former Arab-Israeli justice of the Israeli Supreme Court who served on the panels that upheld the prison sentences of Ehud Olmert and Moshe Katsav, former Israeli prime minister and former president, respectively.
“The second I said that, some students started shouting that I was a liar,” he told JNS.
He gave them 10 minutes to prove him wrong. None could. One student cursed at him and stormed out, he said.
At that point, Haddad said he told those in the room that “anyone who compares the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the real apartheid in South Africa is doing injustice to your parents and grandparents, who suffered from real apartheid.”
Most of the students nodded in agreement, he said.
The delegation, which has faced hostility in the United States, travels with security. Haddad said its presence threatens protestors who rely on students having never heard Arab-Israeli perspectives that contradict anti-Israel narratives.
“I’ve seen it many times,” he said. “Students with no prior opinion come, listen, verify what I say and become pro-Israel.”
“That’s what scares them,” he said. “That’s why they don’t want freedom of speech. That’s why we need security. They want to silence us, and if it requires violence, they’ll do it. They’ve done it before.”
Haddad is unfazed by people who try to shout him down, he told JNS.
“Everyone who said something against us, we shouted back,” he said, of the delegation’s protest at Grand Central Station, during which it was accused of being “baby killers” by passersby. Police eventually told it to leave.
“You could see how scared they were when they weren’t in a big mob,” he said of the antisemites. “They are the most scared, unconfident people I’ve ever met. Zombies and disgusting monsters, but only when together. When alone, they run away.”
The delegation also protested outside the United Nations headquarters on the same day that the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing a temporary international stabilization force in Gaza. Members of the group held signs that stated, “We Muslims, Jews and Christians from Israel stand against terrorism” and “We, Arabs from Israel, stand against Palestinian terror.”
“People walking by were shocked,” Haddad said. “‘Arabs from Israel?’ It showed how ignorant many are about Israel.”
Despite the passage of the resolution, Haddad doubts that international involvement will resolve the conflict. He also rejected the idea that Palestinian leadership is genuinely interested in a two-state solution.
Instead, he told JNS, any real progress will come from Arab-Israelis, who will “be in the center of resolving this conflict.”
“For 77 years, Arab Israelis haven’t been part of the decision-making,” he said. “I believe we will reach a point where Arab Israelis, proud to be both Arab and Israeli, will defend and work for the interests of our country.”
“When they sit at the negotiation table, alongside Jews, things will be different,” he added. “Because we know the mentality, the language, every nuance. They cannot fool us.”
