Qaid Farhan Alkadi being rescued from the Gaza Strip by IDF troops. Photo: IDF
The rescue of Qaid Farhan al-Qadi on Tuesday from the clutches of Hamas terrorists in Gaza received extensive coverage and sparked widespread discussion across Arabic-language media and social media channels.
Al-Qadi, an Israeli-Arab hostage from the Bedouin town of Rahat, was reportedly rescued by Israeli troops after being discovered by chance during routine operations.
Part of the coverage focused on a conspiracy spread by Hamas-linked channels that al-Qadi was freed by the terrorists, some saying because he is Muslim, while others claimed Israel was so racist that it didn’t want to include him in a hostage deal and, therefore, Hamas terrorists decided to free him.
“Al Jazeera almost howled after the rescue of the Israeli Bedouin Muslim Farhan al-Qadi,” joked Nervana Mahmoud, a London-based Egyptian commentator.
“The idea that Hamas released the Israeli Bedouin because he is an Arab is a delusional myth. If they wanted to release him, they would have done it months ago. But for Hamas, Farhan al-Qadi is a traitor. They kept him alive only to trade him for their prisoners,” she added.
Lebanese analyst Nidal Sabeh even attempted to claim that al-Qadi hadn’t been a hostage at all, instead being an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped during the fighting in Gaza.
Much attention was drawn to the fact that Israeli soldiers risked their lives searching through Gaza’s underground to rescue an Arab Muslim man.
“Bedouins in Israel welcome the release of Qaid Farhan al-Qadi,” titled the Arabic news site Elaph.
“Congratulations to humanity, Israel, and all Muslim Arabs,” wrote the Emirati analyst Amjad Taha. “Today, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, a 52-year-old Israeli Arab Muslim Bedouin, has been freed from Hamas terrorists in Gaza, following his capture on October 7.”
“Hamas is the ISIS of Gaza and an enemy of humanity, not just the Jews. Oh, by the way, Israel, the so-called apartheid Jewish state, just rescued and saved an Arab Muslim. Read that last line again and try to grasp the depth of the deception you live in,” he wrote addressing the media in France and the UK, known for their anti-Israel animus.
First in the Middle East, this is a moment for all to celebrate. Congratulations to Israel and to humanity. Second, this picture powerfully illustrates the reality: the so-called “apartheid” Jewish state, where a Jewish doctor is treating a Muslim Arab who was held hostage by… pic.twitter.com/0A7eKfEETX
— Amjad Taha أمجد طه (@amjadt25) August 27, 2024
Taha also shared a photo of al-Qadi in the hospital with an observantly Jewish doctor who was treating him.
“First in the Middle East, this is a moment for all to celebrate… Second, this picture powerfully illustrates the reality: the so-called ‘apartheid’ Jewish state, where a Jewish doctor is treating a Muslim Arab who was held hostage by Hamas-ISIS Islamist terrorists in Gaza.”
“Israel, this ‘apartheid’ state, dispatched 18 Jewish soldiers to rescue the Muslim Arab Bedouin and reunite him with his seven children,” Taha added.
Israeli hostage rescued from Hamas is Muslim.
Israeli victims of Hezbollah rockets are Muslim.
Israeli girl injured by Iran rockets is Muslim.Muslims and Jews should be united against terror.
— Nuseir Yassin (@nasdaily) August 27, 2024
“Muslims and Jews should be united against terror,” the well-known internet personality and newly self-identified “Israeli-Palestinian,” Nusseir Yassin, wrote on 𝕏.
He emphasized that the “Israeli hostage rescued from Hamas is Muslim. Israeli victims of Hezbollah rockets are Muslim. Israeli girl injured by Iran rockets is Muslim.”
Summing up several of the sentiments expressed among Arab supporters of Israel, Khaled Hassan, an Egyptian-British researcher on terror wrote, “I have to admit, I am absolutely furious the IDF rescued an Arab Muslim Bedouin, Qaid.”
“I am not angry they saved him. I am absolutely thrilled for him and his family… But, in the Arab world, except for the UAE, only a high-ranking General or millionaire would receive the treatment Qaid received. If the Arab world treated us like this, I would have never left.”
“That’s why I am absolutely fuming. At a time when Jews treat a Muslim with such dignity, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas murder Palestinian activists who even whisper a few words of dissent. It tells you everything you need to know, doesn’t it? Qaid was escorted like a VIP by soldiers who took him to a helicopter to transport him to a hospital for a medical examination, by world-class healthcare professionals,” Hassan said.
“He then received a phone call from the Jewish Prime Minister, wishing him well and welcoming him home. I wish every Arab lived in the state of Israel. If they all were granted the rights and privileges of living in Israel, they would have been more Zionist than Herzl himself!”
