A lesson of coexistence turns sour in Shfaram

Times of Israel has what looks like a heartwarming story:

In a remarkable response to the spate of “price tag” hate attacks by Jewish extremists, a group of youths from the northern Arab town of Shfaram teamed up with Jewish counterparts to send a very different message.

Members of the local school system’s youth leadership group, together with young people from Shutafut-Sharakah — a coalition of Jewish and Arab organizations working to build inclusive Israel — joined hands on Sunday to renovate the ancient synagogue in the Galilee town.

...One of the girls who came to renovate the synagogue said Sunday that Shfaram residents’ history of caring for the synagogue “is an example and a model for coexistence between our two peoples. Every form of worship in the city is part of our heritage, and comes both naturally and unreservedly,” she added.

This sounds wonderful! Jews and Arabs are working together against hate and towards understanding and coexistence.

However, this same event is being reported in Arab media a bit differently, and the message is not nearly as sunny.

Al Quds al Arabi, after spending many paragraphs on how the Jewish state is not taking "price tag" attacks seriously, says that in contrast to Jews who destroy churches and mosques, Arabs are showing how much they respect synagogues.

A youth group in the town of Shfaram responded to 'price tag' attacks by restoring an old synagogue in order to deliver a message about the Arab-Islamic civilization, in dealing with the sanctities of others. National Democratic Alliance official Murad Haddad told Al Quds Al-Arabi "that he wanted to deliver a message to the world that [Muslims] preserve the holy sites of the Jews because they are not part of the conflict. He adds 'in all restoration projects and maintenance of holy sites in the city, we included the synagogue, and this time we wanted to highlight the maintenance of the synagogue at the time that others violate the sanctity of mosques and churches and convert them into animal shelters [or the like.]'

... Murad Haddad emphasizes that the restoration of the synagogue is not related to any 'coexistence' programs between Jews and Arabs and was not initiated by Jews but was a 'self-initiative linked to the core of Arab-Islamic values that ​​has nothing to do with Zionism.

The amount of respect given to the synagogue in Shfaram by the locals is undoubtedly remarkable and praiseworthy. Perhaps this spokesperson does not represent the citizens of Shfaram.

But this is how the restoration is being reported in the Arab media, not as a lesson of coexistence but as an example of Muslim moral superiority.  (We don't need to even get into the many synagogues destroyed, deliberately, by Muslims over the centuries.)

The article shows that  the leftover synagogues of vanished Jews must be treated with far more respect than living, breathing Jews who want to live in peace and harmony with Arabs.