Sarah Zoabi called herself a “proud Zionist” and said she does not identify with any other flag or country other than Israel. Photo: Screenshot.
The mother of Israeli-Arab, Israel supporter Muhammad Zoabi expressed pride in being a Zionist on the new season of the cooking show Master Chef Israel.
Sarah Zoabi introduced herself on the show as an an “Arab, Muslim, Israeli, proud Zionist” from the northern city of Nazareth. When one judge asked her to elaborate on her nationality and beliefs, she said she believes in the right of the Jewish people to have their own country, which she said is “the state of Israel, the holy land.”
“I’m sure that the people who hear me will say: ‘what, have you lost your mind? How can you say you are a Zionist?’ I want to say to all the Arab [citizens] of Israel to wake up,” she continued. “We live in paradise. Compared to other countries, to Arab countries — we live in paradise.”
The Master Chef contestant also explained her connection to Israel by saying she does not have “another state” or “another flag” with which she identifies. She added, “With all due respect to [the Arab] nation, this doesn’t imply treason. I never harmed anyone.”
Praising the Jewish state, she said there is no better place and no other country where she could receive the same freedoms as Israel. She explained with 100 percent certainty that Israeli Arabs would never choose to live with Palestinians outside of Israel or beyond the Green Line, if given the choice.
“No one will agree. That’s what I believe,” she said. “It will cost me, I know that. Same way it cost my son. I’m the mother of the Arab boy, Muhammad Zoabi, who’s life was threatened and who faced death threats over his opinions.”
Her son, Muhammad, was forced to go into hiding last summer after he publicly expressed support for Zionism and Israel. He went underground for his outspoken support of the three Israeli teenagers — Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah — who were abducted and murdered last June by Hamas terrorists in the West Bank. He found shelter at the home of an Israeli terror victim in Israel before fleeing to the U.S.
Muhammad resurfaced in January with a post on his Facebook page. He said his need to go into hiding was partially a result of his effort to “show the world the real face of regular Arabs and Muslims who’re simply sick of their leaders’ corruption and unlimited hate.”
Muhammad is a cousin of Israeli-Arab parliamentarian Haneen Zoabi, whose provocative anti-Zionist activism nearly cost her her Knesset seat.
Source:: The Algemeiner
