A literal open-heart surgery, performed by Israeli doctors, that saved the life of a little Moroccan girl, led to a different kind of open-heart surgery for a Moroccan Muslim who learned of her operation, and from this he began, slowly, to unlearn his hate and came to see Israel as it is, and not as Arab propagandists had taught him to believe. More on his transformation can be found here: “Open heart surgery: How an Israeli non-profit changed the heart of Muslim influencer, Mustapha Ezzarghani,” by Jo Elizabeth, All Israel News, May 10, 2026:
A Christian nonprofit that brings children from countries considered adversaries to Israeli hospitals for life-saving heart surgery has not only helped heal physical hearts, but also, in some cases, fostered lasting personal transformations, including that of a Muslim man from Morocco who has become a prominent advocate for Israel and the Jewish people.
Writer and photographer Mustapha Ezzarghani told ALL ISRAEL NEWS how his encounter with a young girl named Hiba, who received medical treatment in Israel, changed his life.
“In 2010, I had a friend from a small village called Amizmiz, tucked into the mountains not far from Marrakesh,” Ezzarghani explained. “One day, he invited me to visit, to share a meal with a local family. There was nothing unusual about it. In Morocco, being invited into someone’s home, especially in a village, is one of the most natural things in the world.”
“We sat together, shared food, spoke about ordinary things, life, family, the rhythm of the village. And then, at some point, my attention was drawn to their daughter, Hiba.”
Ezzarghani continued, “There was something about her that made you pause. A certain fragility in her presence, something that told you she had been through more than a child should. Her mother began to speak about her, not in a dramatic way, but with the quiet honesty of a mother who has carried fear and relief in the same breath. She told me that Hiba had suffered from a serious heart condition, that her life had once been hanging by a thread.”
“And then came the sentence that, in that moment, felt almost impossible to process. She told me that Hiba had undergone heart surgery… in Israel.”
The non-profit behind this narrative-breaking moment is Shevet Achim, named after the first verse in Psalm 133: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together [shevet achim] in unity.” The Psalm promises blessing wherever there is this brotherhood, which is something the staff hangs onto as they extend love and brotherhood to Israel’s “enemies” through medical care.
Shevet Achim began bringing children from the Gaza Strip in 1994, but over time expanded its operations to include countries across the Middle East, including Ezzarghani’s home country of Morocco. The Israeli government covers part of the costs, while Shevet Achim raises the remainder through donations.
“I remember the stillness that followed inside me,” Ezzarghani recalled. “Not the kind of silence that brings peace, but the kind that comes when something you believed to be solid begins to crack. Because everything I had been taught, everything I had absorbed about Israel and about Jews, had prepared me to expect something entirely different.”
“But this woman, this Amazigh mother from a remote village, had no reason to shape her story for me. She had no political agenda, no ideology to defend. She was simply telling me what had happened to her child. And what she described was not hostility, not rejection, but care.”
“She spoke about doctors who treated her daughter with dedication, about a system that received them, about moments where she felt respected, even as a Muslim woman wearing her hijab in a place I had always imagined would reject her,” he continued.
“There was no bitterness in her voice. Only gratitude. A kind of quiet, grounded gratitude that comes from having seen your child survive. And that is when something shifted inside me,” Ezzarghani said….
Mustapha Ezzerghani’s own heart surgery — his heart transplanted from inculcated hate, to questioning that hate, and finally to appreciating the warm-hearted Jewish state that is so maligned in Arab and Muslim lands, is a story worth learning, and telling to others which, come to think of it, is exactly what I am doing here. Now you can, too.
SKA says
The healing of his heart from his hatred is as much of a miracle as the little girl’s healing from her heart disease!
John Smith says
What a beautiful story Hugh. I’d like to believe that more muslims would get to hear about this, along with many other none-muslims, such as Greta Thunberg.
Bexarkat says
Your sentiment is lovely. However, I cannot help but wonder if it would have an impact on any Israel (Jew) hater, especially one so passionate about her beliefs as Thunberg?
I recall a discussion I had about the Jews’ sacrifice on behalf of the American civil rights movement, including the murder of the two Jews in Mississippi. One of those in our group commented, ” ‘they’ only did that for themselves,” in other words, for Jewish self-promotion. I was left without words, especially since another of the group, an American black man, said nothing to refute the comment. There are those as well who would claim that saving the life of this young precious little girl would be another instance of “Jewish self-promotion.”
John Smith says
Good point Bexarkat, I see where you’re coming from.
mgoldberg says
Yet this story and others like it have inculcated the opposite. Ironically, for example, with all these Israeli rescue teams that dig people out of earthquake zones and hurricane destroyed zones, what did and do we get? We got the ugly ferocious lie that Israel was doing this to harvest organs from others….. Imagine all that cost, that effort to save others, and for all that, the Israeli’s got the ugliest of lies tossed at them- that what they were doing was a ruse, and was merely a scheme to harvest organs. ie the old blood libel. Disgusting but that is was has happened over the decades. And the same think is likely from Israei life saving medicine. After all, the Israeli’s vaccinated over a million and a half young children in Gaza, and for that they got accused of comitting genocide against children.
Kepha says
Chinese Buddhists and Communists alike used to say that about Christian missions that took in orphans back in the day. The same is said about international adoptions to the USA in parts of Central America.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Precisely! Like Yahya Sinwar’s life was saved by Israeli doctors, but he continued to repay them by continuing his jihad against Israel. That’s a far more common reaction than what this Moroccan man experienced
However, did Mustapha Ezzerghani then go on to leave Islam completely, even if clandestinely if he still lives in Morocco? If not, I question the sincerity of his “change of heart”, in a manner of speaking
Bexarkat says
and the story about a young Arab woman whose life was saved by Israeli doctors after she was set alight from a cooking incident. She was convinced by PLO members her life was over, and no man would ever want her and convinced she should carry a bomb into the hospital compound to kill Zionists. She got as far as the security barrier at the entrance to the hospital when the bomb was discovered and the woman arrested.
crown says
This is a wonderful story, and deserves much applause.
However, all of us who follow Israel know the stories of life-saving work done by Israeli doctors, only to be rewarded with terror and hatred from those Muslims whose lives were saved. Yahya Sinwar’s life was saved by Israeli doctors, as we all know. Need I say more?
Taffy says
So this heart surgery was done on a nobody, and it anllegedly influenced a nobody to look beyond the lies and libel concerning Israel. It’s the exception that proves the rule!
Yahya Sinwar, while serving 4 life sentences in an Israeli prison [for his role in murdering 4 Palestinians he believed were complicit with Israel], developed severe neck pain with corresponding loss of balance. A prison dentist diagnosed him as having a stroke. He was sent to an Israeli hospital where a life-threatening brain abscess was revealed as the problem. A crackerjack neurosurgery team performed the surgery that saved his life. Sinwar was then released as part of a prisoner exchange for a lone Israeli soldier. October 7, 2024 was Sinwar’s idea of repaying his gratitude to the physicians and country that saved his life. Sinwar killed ~1200 in Israel on October 7, 2024, and he is also responsible for the deaths of ~70,000 Gazans (not a particularly reliable number—coming from the Gaza Health Ministry) plus the destruction of about 70% of Gaza’s buildings including about 80% of its housing.
The only good thing to come about from Sinwar’s neurosurgery was the easy identification of his body.
Anytime you hear a feel good story about the Muzzies and their gratitude towards Israel, remember that there are 100 more that prove the Muzzie’s animosity.
James Lincoln says
Taffy says,
“Anytime you hear a feel good story about the Muzzies and their gratitude towards Israel, remember that there are 100 more that prove the Muzzie’s animosity.”
Yes, but 100 may be putting in a little bit low.
Kepha says
Understood. But oe change of heart is a start. 千里之行始于足下: “A journey of a thousand _li_ begins with putting your foot down (taking a step)”. One point on which this Christian agrees with Lao Zi. Maybe we’re all on this journey to the City of God.
L.P.M. de de vette says
2023 oct 7th
William David Pappas says
I suspect he better watch his six. Good on him.
Kepha says
I may have seen Mr. Exxarghani’s posts on FB. I also note that while Morocco’s Jewish community has been greatly reduced by emigration over the past several decades, it is still one of the few Arab or Islamic nations that still has a functioning Jewish community. I also note that in WW2, while under German occupation, King Muhammad V refused to cooperate with the rounding up of Morocco’s Jews, saying he only had Moroccans in his country.
Re Shevet Achim, I recognize where the name comes form. Psalm 133 is the penultimate of the Songs of Ascents in the Psalter (Pss. 120-134). It speaks of pilgrimage to the Temple (or, perhaps, even the Tabernacle, before the Temple was built). These Psalms of Ascent begin with the pilgrim in a place surrounded by hostility and conflict-loving people, where he might have been in the midst of Arabia or Armenia (distant places to an early iron age Israelite). Yet they move on, until in Psalm 134, there is the call to those in the House of YHWH to bless his name.
Perhaps we may see this as a pilgrim finding his way to the temple of God’s peace. I pray for many nations to be guided to the ultimate Temple in the Messiah’s body.
Dalacs says
Some people are so hardened and set on evil that no good deed will change them. However, even a few cases like this should encourage us. Good will ultimately triumph over evil.
Namer says
Always good to hear a story like this when there is so much hate in the world.
gravenimage says
Open Heart Surgery That Led to Open Heart Surgery
…………………………………….
So good to hear–but all too rare.