OPINION:
Democrats love little more than including Arabs in their “big tent” — as long as the Arabs are found to the left of Josef Stalin on the political spectrum.
Those refusing to toe the party line are ignored or pilloried in the press — or worse.
So, it makes sense that the American left and its faithful media paid no attention to a recent courageous act by Simona Mohamsson, Sweden’s minister of education and integration.
During a televised debate last week, Ms. Mohamsson, leader of Sweden’s Liberal Party, wore a Star of David pendant around her neck “for,” as she said, “the children who do not dare to in today’s Sweden.”
Antisemitic incidents have spiked in Sweden in recent years, as they have across other parts of Europe and the U.S. Ms. Mohamsson, born in Israel to a Palestinian father and Lebanese mother, is not Jewish.
She slammed fellow Swedish lawmaker Ilona Szatmari Waldau, who in 2025 sent a letter of support to jailed Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades commander Ahmad al-Moghrabi.
Al-Moghrabi is serving multiple life sentences in Israel for his role in numerous terrorist attacks, including a Jerusalem bar mitzvah celebration suicide bombing that killed 11 people, including two infants.
The online response to Ms. Mohamsson’s singular act of bravery came fast and vicious.
Valley Ghanem, official “Islamophobia adviser” of Malmo, Sweden, wrote on Instagram: “I don’t think I can feel more disgust than this type of person: weak in body, evil in will, pitiful in her betrayal.”
Other online commenters called Ms. Mohamsson “self-hating,” and at least one posted, “May she burn,” according to the Swedish Aftonbladet newspaper.
Yet Ms. Mohamsson bravely told that outlet: “For me, it is obvious that Sweden should be a sanctuary for Jews. It is also important to show a distance from the forces that try to instill fear and who use a conflict to spread antisemitism.”
Legacy American media are largely silent on Arab acts of fortitude that go against the traditional Jew-hating, America-bashing grain.
They have yet to cover, for example, Dor Shachar’s story.
Born Ayman Abu Soobuch in Khan Yunis, Gaza, Mr. Shachar fled home at 13, having felt since early childhood that he was truly Jewish and did not “belong” in the Gaza Strip. School had taught him that Jews have three legs “and that the most important commandment [for Muslims] is to kill a Jew.”
Mr. Shachar has been beaten, tortured and threatened by fellow Gaza residents — including his own family — many times for the transgression of not just leaving his people but also becoming “the enemy.”
Today, the convert to Orthodox Judaism and author of “From Gaza to Tel Aviv” lives with his Jewish wife and children in Rishon LeZion, Israel. His family in Gaza considers him dead.
Mr. Shachar lectures regularly, telling his story “because it is the story of every person who seeks truth, who seeks freedom and who chooses their own path even when the whole world stands against them.”
Then there is the “Green Prince,” Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef.
Born in Ramallah, Mr. Yousef turned against terrorism at 18 after being arrested by Israeli police and witnessing, in custody, Hamas members torturing any Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel.
He was recruited as a spy for Israel’s Shin Bet, and his work for the security agency over nearly a decade helped prevent numerous terrorist attacks.
Mr. Yousef — a convert to Christianity who was granted asylum in the U.S. in 2010 because he would be killed if he returned to Ramallah — has faced many death threats. He is regularly called a traitor, provocateur and “toy for Israel,” among the kinder epithets.
He recently had some angry words for President Trump concerning Iran. Although you would think a Palestinian bashing the Republican U.S. commander in chief over Middle East policy would be low-hanging fruit for American media … crickets.
That’s because, in addition to Mr. Yousef being the one making the statements, his critique was that Mr. Trump had not gone far enough in Iran.
“We could have finished the job,” he said at a Jerusalem conference over the summer, directing his words at the president. … Then, when you came to the picture, you dragged us into this rabbit hole. And now you’re throwing [Israel] under the bus.”
There are myriad additional examples of Arabs taking life-endangering public stances to protect others. Sadly, you are unlikely to read about them in mainstream U.S. media.
• Anath Hartmann is deputy commentary editor for The Washington Times.
Follow the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.