RAHAT — Hanan Alsanah co-founded the Jewish-Arab Emergency Relief Centers in the Negev after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. The centers mobilized hundreds of volunteers from diverse backgrounds to support survivors and displaced residents in Beersheba, Rahat, and surrounding areas.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Alsanah coordinated the transfer of survivors to humanitarian workers and arranged for them to stay in local homes. She said the only time her confidence wavered was after the October 7 assault, but she chose to remain in the region out of a sense of responsibility to her community. “We wanted to show the people that we can do it. In this dark, there is light,” she said.
Alsanah was the only woman in a group chat of more than 260 community leaders responding to the crisis. She noted that women had driven the relief initiative, which many men initially dismissed as unrealistic. “Women are half the population, so they must have half the solutions,” she said.
The Jewish-Arab Emergency Relief Centers drew visits from President Isaac Herzog, protest leaders, and government officials, who met with more than 400 volunteers. Alsanah told The Jerusalem Post, “Everybody came because they wanted to see hope, [to see] how we are going to rebuild the state, to see this partnership is possible, to be together, to see the other’s pain even if we don’t agree.”
Alsanah said the rhetoric of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was not enough to rupture her connection with Israel’s Jewish community. Despite decades of advocacy focused on Bedouin women’s education and rights, she emphasized that the post-October 7 effort was about immediate humanitarian response and shared civic responsibility. Alsanah began tackling illiteracy among Bedouin women in 2002, eventually building a formally recognized women’s school in Rahat with support from the Education Ministry. Her literacy program started as a single class and expanded to 11 classes across the city and nearby unrecognized villages. She also trained local women to lead educational programs independently in 15 unrecognized villages.