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As Israeli girls run away to Arab villages, Israel's "Anti-Assimilation Organization" and "Pro-Jewish Identity NGO" are on the job
Israel National News reports that a young Jewish teenager fell in love with an Arab, converted to Islam, and decided to marry him, running away from home to do so. The parents, horrified, called the police, and after weeks of searching, located her.
While many parents would quite likely be concerned at a young daughter running off, there is another dimenstion to this story.
It turns out that Israel has something called the "Lehava anti-assimilation organization." The Israel News article reports that this organization was in constant contact with the family, and will now "guide the family on how to treat their daughter." The paper quotes its announcement:
“The organization will continue treating the young woman and help her return to the Jewish people. The organization welcomes the activities of the police and calls on the authorities to handle this phenomenon. We will continue to fight for the return of the daughters of Israel to the people of Israel.
The article reports that the stunned mother bemoaned the fact that “Girls here are exposed to minorities daily, on the way to school and back... It definitely can happen to anyone. My daughter was perfectly normal, full of joie de vivre, surrounded by friends. My daughter was a victim."
She went on to say:
"Unfortunately, there is no immunity to almost anyone. In my worst nightmares I never dreamed it would happen to us.”
The article reports that a deputy mayor from a nearby village announced with concern that a growing number of Jewish girls are moving into Arab villages, a claim that the paper reports was confirmed by "Israel's pro-Jewish Identity NGO Yad L'Achim."
A related article tells of yet another organization, "The Family Lobby," which responded to the deputy mayor's report by claiming:
"The painful phenomenon of Jewish girls who cross over into Arab society is the direct result of the weakening of the family unit and the deterioration of the status of fathers in the Jewish family in recent decades – due to the activity of militant feminist women's groups.'"
An observer might be forgiven for wondering whether the phenomenon is perhaps connected to something more basic: the self-destructive nature of a colonial system built on ruthless militarism and subjugation of others, an artificially manufactured society whose much-vaunted kibbutz system involved separating children from parents and parents from children – in considerable contrast to the Middle Eastern extended-family culture it sought to displace... but that still exists next door.
[Alison Weir
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Reader Comments (2)
At the end of June 2003, I was in Ramle immigration prison for only one week, pending my deportation to Canada, but I learned a lot from that experience. I had been living in Nablus, about 2 1/2 years on a 3-month Israeli visa, and they were not at all happy with me. At Ramle, I met "foreign workers", men from several countries, Eastern European, African, Chinese etc. Some of the men I spoke with told me stories of their having worked in Israel for many years, making good money at skilled trades, money which they send home to their families. They had overstayed their visas and at the time were being brutally apprehended and sent to Ramle pending deportation.
* My point in all this is that these men often developed relationships with Israeli women, even having children with them. These women came to see their men on visiting day. It seems to me that "Lehava anti-assimilation organization" has their work cut out for them!
I think some Israeli girls/women find the good manners and gentleness of the Arab men they come in contact with appealing, in stark contrast to their "own" men.
Great article but don't fall into the Israeli agenda by calling Palestinians "Arabs." She fell in love with a Palestinian. Arabs can be anywhere, but Palestinians are the ones who live in the occupied territories. This girl fell in love with a Palestinian, and good for her. She, at least, sees the world through eyes of love instead of through eyes of a racist ideology that is not going to last much longer.