Arab-Israeli couple whose engagement at IDF ceremony went viral says nobody will rent them an apartment

An Arab-Israeli couple whose engagement video at an IDF ceremony last year went viral says that now that they are no longer in uniform they have been refused apartments by Jewish tenants in Jerusalem, who refuse to rent to Arabs.

Luna Khalil Saliba Luna says in a Facebook post that she was interested in one particular apartment and sent a private message to the owner, only to be amazed at the reason for the refusal she received: “Based on your name I understand that you are an Arab… I have no problem with this. On the contrary, I am in favor of encouraging relations between Arabs and Jews, but I previously had two Arab tenants and the neighbors harassed them until they left.”

“So many people were excited by the two patriotic soldiers getting engaged in uniform,” Luna writes, saying that now when she reaches out to people to find an apartment, “they stammer and try to avoid such a simple question: ‘Is the listing still relevant?’ Let me spare you the suspense: It is not. Not when you have an Arabic accent. When you have an Arabic accent, almost every apartment listing becomes charmingly irrelevant.”