With increased tensions between Jews and Muslims, perhaps it is a good time to recall the following ten true instances when Jews and Muslims – at times risking everything – saved each other's lives.
Saving Albania’s Jews
Albania, a small mountainous nation on the Balkan peninsula, is the only Muslim-majority country in Europe – and is also the only European nation that emerged from World War II with more Jews than before the war.
After Hitler came to power in 1933, Albania’s pre-war Jewish population of about 200 was soon swollen with hundreds of Jewish refugees from elsewhere in Europe, who hoped to travel on from Albania to Israel or other countries. Many stayed, and by the time German forces occupied Albania in 1943, up to 1,700 Jews lived in Albania.
When German officials ordered Albanians to round up and deport the Jews living in their country, they point blank refused. Incredibly, Albanian governmental agencies even provided Jews with fake documents, allowing them to escape detection. The desire to help Jews permeated Albanian society. Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum notes that Albanians "competed with each other for the privilege of saving Jews”. By the end of World War II, one Jewish family in Albania had been murdered by Nazi forces: almost all other Jews in Albania had been saved, protected by government officials and private citizens alike.
Turkish Heroism
Senior authorities in Turkey also intervened a number of times to save Jews during the Holocaust. Some historians estimate Turkish officials saved the lives of 15,000 Jews with Turkish connections.
Behic Erkin, Turkey’s Ambassador to France, provided proof of citizenship to thousands of Turkish Jews – including many with only tenuous connections to Turkey – and evacuated them from France to Turkey. Selahattin Ulkumen, Turkey’s Consul General on the Greek island of Rhodes, also rescued Turkish Jews, and put himself in personal danger to do so. Hearing that the Jews of Rhodes were being herded onto cattle cars to be sent to Auschwitz, Ulkumen boarded the train and refused to leave until 50 Jews – who were either Turkish citizens or had other connections to Turkey – were released. Ulkumen was eventually named a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
In 1943, another Turkish Consul General – Necdet Kent, who was Turkey’s Consul General in Marseilles at the time – also boarded a train bound for a death camp, demanding the release of eighty Turkish Jews on the train, though some historians dispute his account. When German authorities asked those on the train who was Turkish, everyone answered they were. Soon, all the passengers on the train were released. “I cannot forget those embraces around our necks and hands.... The inner peace I felt when I reached my bed towards morning that day is one that I have not savored much since then" Kent recalled in an interview seventy years after that day.
The Iranian Schindler
Abdol-Hossein Sardari was a wealthy Iranian diplomat and lawyer who used his position as a senior official in Iran’s wartime Paris embassy to save thousands of Jews. He wrote missives to the German authorities arguing that Iranian Jews were ethnically “Aryan”. His pseudo-arguments so confused German officials that Adolf Eichmann was reportedly enraged by this turning of Nazi ideology on its head – but they worked. Jews with Iranian citizenship were excused from wearing the yellow star that Nazis forced other Jews to wear.
More crucially, Sardari – without consulting his superiors – issued hundreds of passports to Iranian-Jewish families, eventually saving up to an estimated 2,000 Jews – and earning Sardari the nickname “the Iranian Schindler”.
Rescue in Sarajevo
During the brutal years of war in Yugoslavia from 1992-1996, much of Sarajevo was destroyed. Ordinary life ground to a halt. As the war dragged on, the only island of normality and hope became one run-down synagogue in the center of the city. This housed La Benevolencija – “Good Will” in the Sephardi Jewish language of Ladino – a Jewish charitable organization that became a center of humanitarian aid in Sarajevo, funneling donations from abroad into the beleaguered city.
For thousands of Yugoslavs – not only Jews, but also Muslims, Serbs, and Croats – the synagogue’s radio became their only link with relatives outside the besieged city. When Yugoslavia’s postal service broke down, the synagogue became a mail center, processing thousands of letters – even telephoning people to let them know that letters from outside the city had arrived. A soup kitchen in the synagogue fed over three hundred people daily at the height of the siege, and a clinic staffed with doctors and nurses in the synagogue treated Sarajevans. Over 40% of all medicines used in Sarajevo during the war were distributed by La Benevolencija, free of charge.
Muslims, who were targeted for genocide by Bosnian Serbian forces during the war, made up the bulk of the Yugoslavs aided by La Benevolencija. Jakob Finci, the Jewish charity’s head, was proud of that fact: “Many Muslims in Sarajevo sheltered Jews from the Nazis in the war. I cannot forget this fact” he explained of his activities during the height of the siege.
From Sarajevo to Jerusalem
During the siege of Sarajevo, while the Jewish charity La Benevolencija aided Muslims, one Jewish family in Israel reached out to help a Yugoslav Muslim family directly – and even got the Prime Minister of Israel involved.
The story of this extraordinary rescue begins during World War II. That’s when Mustafa and Zejneba Hardaga, Muslims living in Sarajevo, decided to defy the German occupying authorities. They knew the dangers; the Nazi Gestapo headquarters were across the street from the Hardagas’ apartment and at night they could hear the screams of people being tortured. Nonetheless, they offered shelter to Mustafa’s Jewish business partner Josef Kabiljo – as well as Josef’s wife and daughter. Years later, Josef remembered: “They welcomed us with the words: ‘Josef, you are our brother, and your children are like our children. Feel at home and whatever we own is yours.’” When Gestapo agents would knock on the door, Josef and his family hid behind clothes in the back of a closet.
Zejneba Hardaga’s father, Ahmed Sadik, also helped Yugoslav Jews, forging documents to allow them to pass as non-Jews. He was arrested and executed for his activities.
Following the war, the Kabiljo family moved to Israel, but always stayed in touch with the Hardagas. Mustafa passed away, and the Kabiljo family kept in touch with Zejneba and her daughter Sara Pecanac, who was born after the War. In 1992, as the Kabiljos watched what was happening in Sarajevo, they wanted to aid the family who’d saved their lives. Recruiting an Israeli journalist covering the Yugoslav war, they got into contact with the Hardagas and helped them secure space on an aid convoy evacuating Sarajevo. When the refugees encountered red tape, the Kabiljo family asked then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to help, which he did.
Facing a choice of where to live once they left Sarajevo, Zejneba and her daughter Sara chose to move to Israel. Upon arriving, they met not only with the Kabiljo family, but with Yitzhak Rabin as well. Sara eventually converted to Judaism, and works for Yad Vashem in Israel today. “When I was growing up,” she explains, her mother “always said, ‘You can’t control how rich you will be, or how smart or successful you will be. But she said you can control how good you will be.’”
Donating Organs
When a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a bus in the center of Tel Aviv on September 19, 2002, five Israelis died – as well, as Jonathan Jesner, a Scottish Jewish teenager who was studying in an Israeli yeshiva, or religious school, for the year. His family offered his organs for donation, noting that Jonathan had meant to start training as a doctor in London the following year. "The principle of saving life is one of the greatest values of Judaism," explained Jonathan's brother, Ari, at the time.
His family’s decision saved the life of Yasmin Abu-Rumeileh, a seven year old Palestinian girl who had been waiting for a kidney for two years. Dina Abu-Rumeileh, Yasmin’s mother, said she wanted to meet and offer condolences to Jonathan Jesner’s son and hopes others can learn from her daughter’s experience “that we need peace”.
Three years later, another organ donation caused headlines in Israel; this time it was a Palestinian boy whose organs saved the life of a Jew. In November 2005, 12-year old Ahmed Khatib was shot mistakenly after he waved a toy gun at Israeli soldiers who were raiding a nearby terrorist hideout. Ahmed was transported to a local Israeli hospital. As his life ebbed, his parents Ismail and Abla Khatib decided to donate their son’s organs. Cautioned that as they were in an Israeli hospital, some of his organs might go to Jews – a radical idea for this family who lived in an area where Jews are commonly called “the enemy” – they decided to go ahead anyway.
Within hours, six Israelis received life-saving transplants: four of the patients were Jews. Then deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert telephoned the Khatibs to thank them for their "noble gesture". "Violence against violence is worthless” Khatib's mother said; “Maybe this will reach the ears of the whole world so they can distinguish between just and unjust. Maybe the Israelis will think of us differently," she explained.
Terror in Paris
When a gunman stormed the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris on January 9, 2015, four Jewish shoppers were shot dead. The carnage could have been worse if one Muslim worker – 24 year old shop assistant Lassana Bathily – hadn’t intervened.
Alerting customers about the existence of a walk-in freezer, Bathily hid several Jews in the freezer, turned off the lights, and told them to stay calm. He went back into the store to look for help. Although he was initially suspected by police of being a terrorist, Bathily managed to tell the officers what was happening inside the store; Bathily’s information aided police in eventually raiding the shop and killing the terrorist inside.
After a nationwide petition to grant Bathily, who is from Mali, French citizenship, he became a citizen on January 20, 2015. "I helped Jews” Bathily explained; “We're all brothers…. It's not a question of Jews, Christians or Muslims, we're all in the same boat”.
Saving Syrian Refugees
As fighting in Syria kills and displaces ever more people, one country has helped thousands of Syrian civilians, without gaining any attention or credit. Israeli hospitals have been quietly treating Syrians – who are wary when they return home of ever revealing that they were hospitalized in the Jewish state.
Hospitals such as Rebecca Sieff Hospital in Safed and Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya – both in Israel’s northern region – estimate that they treat hundreds of Syrians each year, brought to Israel for life-saving treatment by factions fighting Syrian leader Bashar Assad. A third of the cost of treating Syrians is born by Israel’s Ministry of Defense, a third by Israel’s Ministry of Health, and the rest is covered by individual hospitals. When Syrians return home after their hospital stays, Israeli doctors and staff remove all Hebrew lettering from medicine containers and medical devices, the hospitals report, so that their patients won’t have to tell neighbors and relatives they visited Israel, which many regard as their enemy.
Israelis take similar actions when donating to Syrians and Syrian refugees. A 2014 aid drive in Israel by a consortium of Israeli aid organizations collected 20,000 donated items – mostly jackets, blankets, and sleeping bags – from Israelis who wanted to help Syrian refugees. Before they donated, Israelis were instructed to remove all Israeli labels and Hebrew lettering from the items.
A “Jewish Schindler”
Canadian Jewish philanthropist Yank Barry was once best known for being the lead singer of the group The Kingsmen – whose 1963 hit “Louie Louie” is still popular. In more recent years, Yank has made a name for himself as a humanitarian and co-founder – along with his friend boxer Muhammad Ali – of the Global Village Champions Foundation, which helps deliver emergency food around the world.
In recent years, Yank has worked to helped rescue refugees from Syria and Iraq – Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi – and resettle them in Bulgaria. Once in Bulgaria, Yank and his wife Yvette pay for the refugees to stay in hotels; they pay for their meals, get to know them, and get involved in the lives of those they’ve helped.
Inspired by Oskar Schindler, the German businessman who saved 1,218 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them as slave labor in his factory, Barry pledged to rescue at least that number of people from the Middle East. In September 2014, he surpassed that goal and continues to aid refugees from the Middle East, and to help support the refugees in Europe.
Explaining that his grandfather Samuel’s 13 siblings perished in Auschwitz, Yank wants people around the world to stand up and do the right thing, inspired by those who helped Jews during the Holocaust. “People would be surprised to see a Jewish man helping Muslims,” he explains, “but when I see these people I see the same thing as before. There are incredible similarities. Bulgarians hid Jewish people during the war. That was inspiring and if you have any kind of a heart you have to do something about this.”
“An Ahmed is going to save your son”
When a thirteen year old Jewish Israeli boy was stabbed by two Palestinian teenagers in Jerusalem on October 11, 2015, he was rushed to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital barely clinging to life, with almost no pulse. At Hadassah, he was cared for by two members of staff whose dedication help make Hadassah a major center of medical excellence: Dr. Ahmed Eid, 65, an Israeli Arab Muslim, who is Chief of Surgery, and Dr. Elchanan Fried, 41, an Orthodox Jew, who heads Hadassah’s intensive care unit. Staff at Hadassah call the duo alternately “Bert and Ernie” or “Fried and Eid”.
When the young teen was brought in, Dr. Eid recalls, he was gravely ill. “No blood pressure. Pulse was 40. Ventilated at the scene,” said Eid, who raced to begin surgery. Dr. Fried assisted, recalling the patient was “more dead than alive”.
After life-saving surgery – assisted by a team of professionals who were Jewish, Muslim, Christian, religious, secular, and Orthodox – the boy was stabilized, and Dr. Eid went to the waiting room to speak with the patient’s father. He’d been told what happened to the attackers – 15 year old Hassan Manasia had been shot dead by police after attacking both the 13 year and another 21 year old Jew; his 13 year old cousin, Ahmed Manasia, had also been shot by police and was being cared for in Hadassah Hospital’s western Jerusalem location.
As Dr. Eid walked into the room to meet the stabbing victim’s father, he noticed he was an Orthodox Jew. “Listen, your son is still alive. It’s going to be okay,” Dr. Eid told him. “I told him my name is Ahmed Eid, I’m director of surgery. Then I made a joke, I guess. I said, ‘An Ahmed stabbed your son, and an Ahmed is going to save your son.’”
Both boys – cared for by teams of medical professionals of different religions – made full recoveries.
(12) Mika Krok, January 4, 2016 12:32 PM
dont forgtet the bulgarians. Their king first went together with Hitler but when he saw what was happening with Jews he managed to save at least 11.300 jews citizens of Bulgaria
Amiel, October 13, 2017 2:22 AM
Bulgaria and the Jews
The story is more complex than that. It all started in the town of Kustendil when non-Jews learned that the Nazis had planned to deport their Jewish neighbors in two days. They alerted them and immediately boarded the train to Sofia to meet with government officials and lobby them to stop the deportation. Long story short, the Metropolitan of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church intervened and succeeded in forcing the Tsar (Boris) to stop the Nazi invasion and deportation, much to Hitler's fury. As part of the deal, Jews were deported to work camps inside Bulgaria but sadly most of those who lived in the West/Macedonian territories (claimed as Bulgarian land) were deported to extermination camps. Ultimately, the Tsar paid with his life as Hitler had him assassinated during his flight back from Berlin. The story of the Bulgarian people's valor and courage during WWII is unique and praiseworthy.
(11) Beverly Margolis, December 18, 2015 1:56 AM
If we had worked together...
Jews and Muslims should be working together despite our theological differences. We are half-brothers, not cousins as so many try to say we are.
I spent eleven days in the hospital very recently. Two of my nurses were Muslims. We joked around lamenting that we should be getting along in the middle east instead of trying to tear our respective heads off.
One of my Muslim nurses took one look at me and called a code "STAT." As we were talking, my heart stopped. He saved my life and I still have the scars from where the paddles hit my skin.
If I live to be 200 I will never understand why two people separated by so much that should unite us is a mystery that only Hashem can figure out.
In the next week or so I'm going right back in the hospital for the replacement of my aortic valve. As few as ten years ago the only way to do that was to cut me from stem to stern; today they will go through my femoral artery; look, ma, no scars!
(10) Leslie bat Zipporah, December 17, 2015 5:14 PM
What this feel-good article really says is that examples of Muslims saving Jews are so rare that it makes for an interesting story. While we are grateful for each life saved, and recognize that good and evil exist in every group, what ten exceptions to the rule in one century really show is what a relentless enemy we must protect ourselves from.
cee, December 18, 2015 12:01 AM
Well said, exactly
Succint and true Leslie bat Zipporah
(9) Anonymous, December 16, 2015 4:11 AM
haters are not born of humanity. All Nations have haters!
Thank goodness that not ALL Nations are filled with haters. We all have them. Rich, poor, middle class. No Nation is exempt, class is no barrier and no religion is exempt. Sarajevo, Croatian Muslim have always been peaceful people. Their Culture is different from Arab/Middle East. I have met Iraqi Muslim who are the salt of the earth. Moral giants. Love them for their humanity. I have met Jews who are just hideous. I will go out of my way for those who define their humanity even displaying it as acts of kindness even Social Justice simply warm my soul. I make no time for haters regardless of their National Origin, race, religion. Such people should be avoided. I greatly admire all the positive energies the subjects of this story permeate. In such horrific times as we all live in, it is wonderful to read of such goodness and humanity displayed by people of all faiths, races, National Origins. Humanity is made of such empathic people.
(8) Anonymous, December 16, 2015 12:06 AM
So what do you want us to do now?
It's all very nice, but it's now, 70 years later, how can we pick and choose who is good and who isn't.?. As someone said in a previous comment, this is not our reality today.. Aish has featured some arabs who turned totally against their people, and they should be respected, but as to the rest of them, I would not take a chance. I believe they ALL hate us and are EXTREMELY cruel people, and I will continue to believe so until moshiach comes ( hopefully soon) DON'T BE FOOLED. Many Israeli girls were treated lavishly by Arab boyfriends and when they married and moved in with their husbands, the torture began, and these poor girls had to be rescued from these men.
(7) David S. Levine, December 15, 2015 5:44 PM
Wonderful Stories & Events
All of the events recounted in the article are wonderful historical events but:
1. They do not relate to today's events when the Moslems are leading the efforts around the world to delegitimize Israel and they stand aside while the vile and violent among them are actually and literally killing Jews.
1a. I wonder how many Moslems teach their children about how Moslems and Jews once cooperated and worked together on so many issues in world history and now that we're descendants of "apes and pigs" as well as descendants of Abraham.
2. It is apparent to all who will see that when the Moslem population of a city and nation reaches a critical percentage the quality of life diminishes. This is certainly true in both Belgium and in The Netherlands, particularly in their capital cities.
3. The lives of Jews and all non-Moslems are at risk in European cities where Moslems are a large minority of the population.
4. The red-green alliance of faculty, Moslem students and university administration on university campuses throughout the western world has made the safety of Jewish students a factor to be considered by Jewish parents.
All in all the civilized world would be better if Moslems stayed away from it.
William, December 15, 2015 10:44 PM
answer
Well said, David! on all points!
(6) Cee, December 15, 2015 4:54 PM
Nice but...
Yes, these are lovely, heartwarming ,inspiring stories. The stories during World War 2 occurred before the establishment of the state of Israel. I wonder if they would occur in 2015. That does not mean our Muslim saviors do not deserve our gratitude. They do and more. However, these stories do not help us deal with the reality of our situation today. The majority of Muslims do not feel the way our Muslim helpers do.How do I know? because every poll says that the majority of Muslims supports the murdering of Jews. Go onto the PMW or PalWatch websites if you don't believe me. These stories are an exception much like the
stories of Righteous Gentiles during the Shoah are the
exception. That's why we have Yad Vashem trees planted
to thank them because they were the minority. Do we say , well, the Germans weren't really our enemy because there were a few Germans who were brave and decent? Do we say the Nazis could have been reasoned with? Hitler appeased? t. Of course not. Israel (and the West) are at war with Islam and the majority of Muslims want to see Israel destroyed and Jews murdered. Articles such as these are not helpful as they create myopia and a sense of false "kumbaya around the bonfire" hope. It is 2015 and times have changed and have been changing since the Oslo accords. And btw, even Muslims who are professional, academic and well off and living in Israel still want Jews murdered and Israel destroyed.
Beri, December 15, 2015 6:22 PM
I agree with Cee.
It's very tempting to play devil's advocate and find some feel-good stories about members of our sworn enemies doing good toward the Jews. Very inspiring, even. But the bottom line is that they are our sworn enemies, and many (most?) cheer the terror attacks and murders of Jews. We're not all the same, we're not all "human beings." Some arabs are vicious, violent animals who crash into bus stops full of Jews, then jump out with an ax to kill more of us. Sorry, I'm not convinced.
(5) Yael Berk, December 15, 2015 4:41 PM
We must not hate every Arab
The purpose of the article was not to absolve Arab terrorists, but to show that we cannot hate every Arab. Terrorists do not speak for all Arabs and many Arabs are very against their evil actions. There are many decent people among the Arab population....that's all this article is trying to demonstrate.
anonymous, December 16, 2015 6:14 AM
Sorry, I disagree with you. The Moslems who are friendly and do not seek the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel are in the minority. They are not "many" at all.
(4) Sara, December 15, 2015 3:31 PM
Very good article
Very good that they bring these true stories on.I am from Albania .I was not born at that time,but I was told that my cousins Veseli family had hidden Jews in our small town,very brave of them back at that time,if they were caught from nazis the whole town would have been burnt out with no one left behind.
(3) Anonymous, December 15, 2015 3:13 PM
An Arab nurse saved my granddaughter's life
Our granddaughter was born with a heart "problem". We knew she would need surgery to correct it The operation was a success but there were complications. All told she was in ICU, unconscious , for three months. In such a situation there is always a problem of phlegm building up in the lungs. At one point they were afraid they would need to operate which was a very risky procedure.
There was only one nurse on the staff, an Arab, who could _possibly_ use suction to clear the lungs. Thank G-d, he was on duty that night. He was successful in his attempt and that was the turning point in her recuperation. Today, she is doing fine, Thank G-d!
(2) Joseph Apicella, December 15, 2015 3:03 PM
Thank you
What wonderful stories. They should always be told and retold. They are a blessing
(1) Dr. Harry, December 15, 2015 2:53 PM
Keep on dreaming
For every one of your ten examples, I can give you 1000 examples of Muslims/Arabs who maimed, raped, or killed Jews, Christians, and other infidels. As Hashem commanded us, DO NOT LET ALIENS LIVE IN THE LAND. They must live in their own countries, or the Jewish people would continue to suffer under their hands, knives, and guns.
Eli Willner, December 15, 2015 3:26 PM
no such command!
Kindly provide a reference, if you can find one!
Dvirah, December 15, 2015 8:22 PM
Distortion
This apparent quote appears to me a distortion of two statements: one saying that the same law (civil) must apply to the native and the alien and another stating that foreign worship (idols) must not be allowed in the land. I believe that both can be found in the book of Leviticus.
Rachel, December 18, 2015 3:09 AM
Idol worship
Muslims do not worship idols, and educated Christians understand that religious statues are meant to portray important figures but are not to be worshipped. Both faiths have long histories in Eretz Yisrael. The state of Israel protects the religious freedom of non-Jews. And that's something for us to be proud of, and from which other middle eastern countries could learn a lot.