Sgt. First Class (res.) Ahmad Abu Latif, a 26-year-old husband and father and resident of the Bedouin town of Rahat, was one of the 21 IDF soldiers killed in Gaza earlier this week after Hamas terrorists threw RPG missiles at a building laced with explosives.
Latif wrote a now famous social media post before being called to serve in Gaza in which he expressed his pride in being an Israeli-Bedouin and serving in the IDF to defend Israel. He also noted that Hamas murdered and abducted Jews and Arabs alike during the October 7th attack. “Since the start of the war, we’ve heard a lot about the involvement of Arab citizens,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, among the dead are Bedouin and Druze soldiers, Muslims and Christians, who became heroes defending the country. The Bedouin community mourns the civilian victims who were unjustly murdered – Jewish, Christian or Muslim. I want to take this opportunity to wake up all those who are reading this! We all share the same fate and we must be united.”
On Thursday, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel (Shas) paid a condolence visit to Latif’s family in Rahat.
“HaRav Ovadia paskened that one should daven in shul for the illui neshamot of the non-Jewish heroes who gave their lives for Israel,” Arbel told the grieving relatives.
Arbel added: “Thank you for raising such a hero. Ahmad was proud to be a Muslim, a Bedouin-Israeli. We as a society must fulfill his will to continue and work toward mutual responsibility and co-existence.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
Who would pasken otherwise?
” Rav Ovadya to pray for the fallen soldiers even if they are not Jewish” I wonder if the hosts didn’t find it offensive, in English culture this would definitely come down as offensive or even racist, but perhaps this is normal in Israel, the fact that we believe that it needs to be said by a chief rabbi does it not make them feel not worthy of our prayers unless they actually die for us, just wondering
what about fraiya yidden who are killed. are we allowed to daven for them or is “al hamalshinin” enough?
עיין יביע אומר ח”י יו”ד עמ’ שח
In the last year of his life,
Rabbi Avigdor Miller [ZTL ZYA]
was still giving public lectures,
and I attending some of those lectures.
Someone asked Rabbi Avigdor Miller:
“Should we pray for the Israeli Army?”
Rabbi Avigdor Miller immediately answered:
“If they are fighting to defend us, then we should pray for them.”
Those were his exact words;
I remember them as if they were said yesterday.
Neither Shas nor their leadership have ever been known for their careful choice of words, even when expressing noble thoughts.
Not only that, we should pray for the American army when it is fighting to defend us, and we should also pray for any foreign armies that are also fighting our enemies.
Praying “le’ilui nishmas” a nochri is a different matter. What kind of “iluy” can he have? We certainly can’t ask Hashem to provide him with “menucha sheleima al (or even tachas) kanfei hashechina”, because he’s not there. But since chasidei umos ho’olom do have some kind of olom habo that is suited to their status, we should wish that he is enjoying himself there. He’s not learning Torah and basking in the shine of the shechina, but whatever activities there are in their olom habo, he should have them to the fullest.