Nazareth Christian Paramedic Serves with Jews, Muslims to Save Lives
“You can feel that people are waiting for Christmas”
(Nazareth, Israel) For the last two years, Nazareth has been a town without a Christmas. The war was literally the “Grinch that stole Christmas,” from the city’s Christians and their neighbors. Gone were the visible signs of the holiday. No tree in the village square. No speakers blaring Christmas music in Arabic and English. No bustling Christmas market full of kids, gifts, or the aromas of special Christmas treats.
Yasmeen Mazzawi, an Arab Christian who serves as a volunteer paramedic with Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency services system, knows firsthand the loss people felt without a public Christmas since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023. That attack, the worst in Israel’s history, brought on a fight for survival for the country through a two-year war with Hamas, the elected terrorist group ruling Gaza.
Today, she hopes for something better this month and the coming new year.
Mazzawi grew up in Nazareth, attending the Nazareth Baptist School. She now lives in nearby Nof HaGalil (Nazareth Illit), volunteering two shifts each week with Israel’s emergency services system. Together with colleagues from all backgrounds — Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze — she responds to emergencies across the entire Galilee region, an area full of the memories of miracles and changed lives.
READ: Christian from Nazareth chosent to lead worldwide Evangelical group
“For me, Nazareth is home,” Mazzawi says. “And serving with Magen David Adom means caring for everyone here.” That includes sharing the comfort of esus with injured soldiers and others she has treated as a paramedic.
A City Ready to Celebrate Again
The people of Nazareth are experiencing the return of the historic village’s downtown Christmas market, complete with sweet shops, holiday decorations, and nightly performances from celebrated local artists. After two difficult years of war without a market — without even a community Christmas tree — the city’s Christian community is eagerly reclaiming the joy and tradition of this time of year. Even Muslims and Jews get in on the spirit of the season. Christmas really does break down barriers.
“You can feel that people are waiting for Christmas,” Mazzawi said. “People finally feel they can get out of their homes, not stay near bomb shelters all the time. They want quiet days. They want to celebrate like they used to.”
Hope Amid the Pain
Like many Israelis, Mazzawi is intimately connected to the suffering caused by the war. Close family friends lost their daughter while she was serving with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Another family acquaintance was critically injured by a nearby explosion, losing most of his hearing. A friend is struggling with PTSD.
As a Magen David Adom volunteer, Mazzawi herself responded to villages blown up in northern Israel by the relentless barrage of Hezbollah rockets in 2024, fighting back her own fears while treating the critically injured.
עץ האשוח הגבוה במזרח התיכון הואר אמש בנצרת במסגרת חגיגות כריסטמס בעיר הבשורה. (צילום ג’אמל אבו חנה). @WallaNews pic.twitter.com/9XFF8cBoou
— יואב איתיאל מדווח כי (@yoavetiel) December 15, 2025
Amid the collective trauma, Mazzawi sees unity this time of year, not division, among the people of Israel and in her role with the first responder organization.
READ: Nazareth pastor ministering to both Muslims and Jews
“The war has not separated Jews and Arabs; I do not feel that at all,” she said. “At Magen David Adom, we share the same values, the same goals, and the same love for people. Nothing has changed — and that’s a very positive thing.”
It’s a fact that most in the West cannot comprehend, with most Christians having never visited the Holy Land and seeing only the negative headlines in the news.
A Message for the World
Mazzawi hopes her story and the work of MDA, help show the world a truer picture of Israel.
“There is peace here, and people do work together,” she said. Her work for the organization, she says, “is a great example of the love and acceptance in this country. Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Christians, working side by side. This is the real Israel.”
This week, Nazareth lit its community Christmas tree, the tallest in the Middle East, welcoming families back to its festive streets. Just like in America, the celebration included fire pits, hot cocoa and Santa arriving on a fire truck.
Among those who watched was Mazzawi, as she continues to serve on the front lines with a team of EMTs and paramedics motivated by the greatest power of all, the one exemplified in the Christmas story – love.
“I can definitely say that you can feel this love. These beautiful events and performances … really share the message of our religion and of our beliefs. And I think that this is the beauty of the whole (celebration),” she recently told Baptist Press.
That’s not likely to lead a headline in the evening news. Still, it provides hope to those who know the reality.
“We work together, know one another, accept one another, even if we are from different backgrounds — me as an Arab and my colleague as a Jew,” she said. “Nothing has changed from the days before the war. People still love one another.”
–Dwight Widaman and Clem Boyd | Metro Voice
