Muslim IDF soldier fields questions about his faith and army service

Mahamid said his service made his faith more complicated, but he has seen other young Israeli-Arabs follow his path.

By RAQUEL GUERTZENSTEIN FROHLICH DECEMBER 15, 2024 13:36

IDF soldiers from the Kfir brgigade operate in the Gaza Strip, November 20, 2024. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam share a verse that Muslim IDF soldier Yahya Mahamid likes to remember, “Whoever saves one soul, it’s like they saved the entire world, and whoever kills one soul, it’s like they killed the entire world,” and that was his number one mission in the IDF—just to save one person, Mahamid said in a video published on Friday by Visegrad24.

In the Tel Aviv-based video, Mahamid answered questions posted to Visegrad24’s X/Twitter account.

In response to the question, “Did your service affect your faith? Made it stronger? Weaker? Altered it?” Mahamid said his service made it more complicated, but he has seen other young Israeli-Arabs follow his path.

“To go to a mosque I don’t know, out of my community, to pray, it became more challenging after I joined the army,” he said. “And not only that, I do Israel advocacy, and my face is known to other Arabs, so it made things complicated. But recently, I have seen more religious figures opening spaces for people like me in their mosques.”

“A lot of Israeli-Arabs, young people, saw what I did and decided to follow through,” Mahamid added. “And some did, including a very religious Muslim woman who went and enrolled to be a combat soldier in the IDF. So she was wearing the IDF uniform with a head covering and an M-16. Seeing examples like that really gives me a lot of energy to continue forward.”

Mahamid explained the majority of Muslims in Israel are Sunni, and he is, as well. In the army, he recieves accommodations for praying and fasting, he said in the video.

In response to a question about targeting children, Mahamid said the IDF does everything it can to not target children and civilians.

“I don’t think we targeted children, we never do target children,” he said. “There are collateral damage and it’s sad, it’s very sad, it affected me. Seeing blood on the ground, it affects every human being. But I can sleep very well knowing that we did not target specifically children and civilians.”

Visegrad24’s account received multiple questions with a similar theme, such as “Ask him how does he sleep at night.”

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“I sleep very well knowing that during my entire service, there was never a terrorist attack in my area where I served,” Mahamid said. “I have only seen smiles and civilians who went out and enjoyed their day while I’m on duty.”

In a later answer, Mahamid explained the IDF and the Israel Police avoid having soldiers operate in areas where they have family.

Another user posed the question, “Does he consider himself also Palestinian? What is a Palestinian identity for him?”

“I don’t consider myself as a Palestinian,” Mahamid answered. “My grandmother, who was born in Tulkarm in the West Bank, she identified as Palestinian. I always say that my grandmother is Palestinian, but I am not. She was the biggest Zionist I’ve ever met.”

A second question on the topic of Palestinians was asked, “What does he think all the pro-palestinians calling Israel an apartheid?”

“To say misinformed, to say the least,” Mahamid said. “But the Palestinian [issue] was never about the Palestinians, it was never about Palestine. It was about just attacking Jews. And now the Jewish nation has a country, and now they want to attack the Jewish country using Palestinians and Palestine as a tool. If this was taken out of the equation, another thing would be brought into the equation to fill this void.”

IDF protects everybody 

The IDF protects everybody inside the country, Mahamid said in response to a question about Muslim IDF soldiers accused by other Muslims of being traitors.

“The IDF stopped weapons from being smuggled into Israel, and we know that Israeli-Arab communities are suffering from violent crimes right now, and those weapons—and drugs—are being stopped by the IDF from making their way into our Arab community,” he said. “Israeli-Arabs should serve in the IDF because the benefit of it to our community is just absolutely massive.”

The video closed out with the question, “I wanna ask what he’d have advised Hamas leaders as a Muslim if he was a Palestinian.”

“I already advised the late Yahya Sinwar to release the hostages on Israeli national TV,” Mahamid said. “That was the only way we could end the war. Unfortunately, my voice went into the pool of many other voices, in Arabic and Hebrew, in English and any other language. But Hamas is deaf.”

“I wait, as an Israeli soldier, I wait for the proud Palestinian leader that loves their people more than they hate Israel, to come,” he added. “I still have yet to see another leader like that.”