Opponents of Israel’s nation-state law were downcast when the legislation was enacted by the Knesset last week. Ghadir Hani, 40, a social activist from the Arab town of Hura, near Be’er Sheva, has found a way to convert the sadness and humiliation into a springboard for positive action. After the law was passed, she suggested that her Jewish friends add their name in Arabic to their social media profiles – and she’d be happy to help them do just that.
The initiative spread rapidly: Thousands of Jews who oppose the law added their name in Arabic script. By midweek this week, Hani had helped 400 people who wanted to protest the legislation, one of whose clauses downgrades Arabic from an official language to a language bearing an undefined “special status.”
Adding the name in Arabic is a statement showing that people care and that it’s important for them that the Arabic language has a place,” Hani says. “Language connects people, and that’s a bridge to opening hearts.”
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Acre-born Hani is active in many projects of coexistence and women’s empowerment. Besides being a member of Women Wage Peace, a grassroots movement, she takes part in many social projects in Hura such as Wadi Attir, a Jewish-Bedouin initiative to establish a model sustainable farm.
