A Muslim news anchor's message during a newscast condemning the Hamas' brutal terror attack on Israel as barbaric, inhumane, and un-Islamic is now viral.
Lucy Aharish, an Arab-Israeli news anchor on the mainstream Reshet 13 network, sent out an emotional message of unity and defiance in her programme after Saturday's terror attack by Hamas on Israel.
"I am sorry that I am using my microphone to send a message to the world. As a journalist, this is my only weapon," Ms Aharish said. She is married to Israeli actor Tsahi Halevi, who has acted with Nushrratt Bharuccha in a movie titled, Akelli.
She also openly referred to Hamas as a terror organisation.
"Since Saturday morning, the state of Israel is under attack. Our beloved country is under attack. We are under the attack of a brutal, barbaric, and inhumane terror organisation. Not an entity, not a government, not a leadership, but a terror organisation," she said.
"Don't be mistaken, we experience difficulties, disagreements, and major disputes like any other country on this globe. But it does not mean that we will not protect ourselves and our children, our homeland," the news anchor emphasised.
While Israel is described as a Jewish state, Arabs constitute about one-fifth of its population.
The wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict often complicates their sense of identity and the current war also poses similar questions.
Israel has faced internal unrest quite often and sometimes on a wider scale like in May 2021, but surprisingly the Israeli-Arabs have not only stayed quiet and not responded to Hamas' calls to join their fight this time, but also spoken in support of Israel.
Some of the Arab community leaders have also pointed out that Hamas carried out its slaughter indiscriminately and did not distinguish between Jews and Arabs, some of whom were also killed in the attack.
In an interview with CNN, Ms Aharish, a survivor of a terror attack in 1987 in Gaza when Israelis could visit the Strip, said that "it's hard not to be emotional. For me it is personal".
Narrating the incident when a daring move by her father saved her and her cousin who got burnt in a Molotov cocktail attack, she said that it is something she will "never forget".
"The evil I saw in the eyes of that terrorist, I never forgot. So when people are telling me that what is happening in Israel is a lie, I cannot stay silent. It's not a lie. It is an awful truth, a barbaric truth, a catastrophic truth," the journalist said.
Recalling a report she did on Syrian refugees, Ms Aharish said she has never in her life "thought that I will live to experience and listen to these kinds of testimonies. It's unbelievable".
Recounting the horror stories of babies being killed and burnt, women being violated and killed, and other horror stories from the terror attack, she stressed that "this is a genocide".
Democracies need to understand that there is a limit to freedom of speech, she argued.
"The heads of social media also need to understand this. They need to join this fight because what is happening is the propaganda and the lies that people are spreading there. This is another crime. I am asking you... to stop the lies," Ms Aharish stressed in a plea to the anchors of CNN during a programme.
"And another word as a Muslim, as an Arab, this is not Islam. What Hamas is doing in the name of religion is not being a Muslim. This is being a monster," she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
