South Florida’s Jewish community is keeping a close eye on all the latest developments in Israel.
South Florida's Jewish community is keeping a close eye on all the latest developments in Israel. In the heart of one of the most heavily populated Jewish neighborhoods, there's an unlikely show of support from one business.
You could say the Muslim family from Turkey running the tailor shop in Surfside is threading the needle. Threading it between cultures, religions and nations.
They've hung an Israeli flag in their store window to make a statement.
"Actually, the Muslim people want peace and unfortunately, the only country in the Middle East that wants peace is Israel and that's why I want to support them," Duran Agba said.
Agba, along with his brother and sister, said Turkey has felt a lot of pain from terrorism so they sympathize with the victims of the violence currently sweeping through parts of Israel.
Their shop is also in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, so to hang an Israeli flag is befitting. But Agba said that has nothing to do with it.
"Let's say the Palestinians wanted to have peace in their homeland and the Israelis were attacking them the whole time, I would hang the Palestinian flag," Agba stated.
Local
They got the flag from a local Australian Jewish clothing designer who's passing them out by the thousand in order to show solidarity with victims of terror in Israel.
"They're the only store in the entire 33154 area code that has an Israeli flag and they're not Jewish. It's heart-warming to say the least," said Joseph Waks, Israeli flag distributor.
It shows that there's hope that people can get together despite religious differences or cultural differences.
"Whenever I come to the tailor store, I bring hummus, because that's what we eat, and falafel, and we're eating that together," Waks said.
