Interior Minister Moshe Arbel decided to grant permanent residency status today (Wednesday) to Hamid Abu Arar, a father of nine from Aroer in the Negev, who lost his wife and risked his own to save dozens of soldiers on October 7.
On the morning of October 7, Hamid and his wife were shot in their car by Hamas terrorists. His wife, an Israeli citizen. Hamid, wounded by the gunfire, made contact with IDF soldiers and warned them of the coming terrorists, risking his life to save dozens of soldiers. Hamid was left alone to care for his nine children, all Israeli citizens and minors, some of whom have serious medical challenges.
An opinion submitted to Minister Arbel by the advisory committee stated: “this is a requester who experienced one of the most serious terror incidents the State of Israel has known and whose pregnant wife was murdered in cold blood by detestable terrorists in front of his eyes.” The opinion continued “in such a case, the State of Israel cannot remain indifferent and not be involved in the fact that this is a family unit which includes nine minor children, citizens of Israel who remain orphaned from their mother and the requestor remains the only backbone for his children.”