Sgt. First Class (res.) Ahmad Abu Latif, a 26-year-old husband and father and resident of the Bedouin town of Rahat, was one of the 21 IDF soldiers killed in Gaza earlier this week after Hamas terrorists threw RPG missiles at a building laced with explosives. Latif wrote a now famous social media post before being called to serve in Gaza in which he expressed his pride in being an Israeli-Bedouin and serving in the IDF to defend Israel. He also noted that Hamas murdered and abducted Jews and Arabs alike during the October 7th attack. “Since the start of the war, we’ve heard a lot about the involvement of Arab citizens,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, among the dead are Bedouin and Druze soldiers, Muslims and Christians, who became heroes defending the country. The Bedouin community mourns the civilian victims who were unjustly murdered – Jewish, Christian or Muslim. I want to take this opportunity to wake up all those who are reading this! We all share the same fate and we must be united.” On Thursday, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel (Shas) paid a condolence visit to Latif’s family in Rahat. “HaRav Ovadia paskened that one should daven in shul for the illui neshamot of the non-Jewish heroes who gave their lives for Israel,” Arbel told the grieving relatives. Arbel added: “Thank you for raising such a hero. Ahmad was proud to be a Muslim, a Bedouin-Israeli. We as a society must fulfill his will to continue and work toward mutual responsibility and co-existence.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)