Ex-hostage says he was flooded with hate messages from fellow Israelis after post calling for treating Arabs with respect

Former Hamas hostage Rom Braslavski says he has been inundated with hate messages from fellow Israelis after he published an Instagram story calling for treating Arabs with mutual respect.

In the post, Braslavski shared how he had noticed elderly Arab construction workers working long hours outside his building and decided to buy them some soda and cigarettes. Braslavski spoke to them in Arabic, which he says caught them off guard, and in addition, said they were confused as to why he was making the gesture.

“Their looks at me — someone wearing a kippah, not hating them, but instead wanting to help and make their day a little better — was of total shock,” Braslavski wrote.

“So I have to ask: Why has helping others become something so unusual? Why should an adult Arab man be so shocked that a Jewish man is concerned about them?”

“Are we a society with that much hatred between Arabs and Jews? I was kidnapped by Arabs, and I wouldn’t say that I’m nuts about them, but we must leave room for humanity amidst all this chaos we live in,” he added.

Hours later, Braslavski published another Instagram story in which he revealed having received countless angry messages that were taking a personal toll on him, and he asked his supporters to come to his defense.

“In recent days the right and left in the State of Israel have decided that I have taken sides and have labeled me as a Kaplanist (anti-government protester). I am neither a Kaplanist nor a Bibist (supporter of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I am a disabled IDF soldier who survived Hamas captivity and I have a message to convey to the whole world — ‘Neither right nor left, but common sense,'” he says, quoting fellow former captive Eli Sharabi.

He laments that the hate messages came from accounts from right-wing Israelis, including many with Likud logos in their profile pictures.

“I wish that all of these keyboard heroes would experience being kidnapped for just one day by (Hamas) Nukhba fighters and then see if they’d still be able to open Facebook and write the nasty messages that they’re sending to a captivity survivor,” Braslavski added.