JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended greetings to Israel’s Muslim and Druze citizens for a holiday that marks the patriarch Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son.
“On the occasion of the Feast of the Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, I am happy to extend holiday greetings to our Muslim and Druze citizens — Kol a’am wa antom bekhair,” Netanyahu said in a statement issued Sunday evening, the start of the four-day holiday.
“On the holiday we cherish values that the Jewish faith also sanctifies: Fear of Heaven, family and helping one’s fellow. This is an additional example of the many things that unite us in our lives together in the State of Israel,” he said.
Muslims believe that the son Abraham nearly sacrificed was his oldest, Ishmael, the son of Hagar. Jews believe it was Isaac, his son with his wife Sarah.
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