How many Jewish women do you think are sitting trapped in Arab Villages?
Most people think a handful her and a handful there. So brace yourself for the answer for at this very moment there are over 70,000 Jewish women trapped in Arab villages in a living hell.
Does it sound impossible? Watch the video.
The Jewish Innovation
When Shira (name changed) met Ahmad (name changed) she couldn’t imagine that what started off as a dream would quickly turn into her greatest nightmare with no way out of it.
Shira and Ahmad both worked in the same restaurant she was a waitress and he was maître d. Shira found Ahmad to be a caring person even more caring than the Jewish boys she knew. He always considered her needs and helped her advance in her job. Slowly they became close friends. Ahmad used to make overtures to her and she responded in kind. Their relationship strengthened. Even as a couple, Ahmad was a romantic that showered Shira with gifts and compliments and Shira enjoyed his company.
Shira’s parents were opposed to this friendship but Shira was adamant and she stayed with him. When he asked her hand in marriage she immediately accepted much to the chagrin of her parents. A short time after their wedding they moved to the pastoral village where Ahmad’s parents lived and far away from her parents who were opposed to all of this.
However to Shira’s great misfortune Ahmad turned from a caring person into a beast. He quickly started forcing her to convert to Islam and became violent and overbearing. He tried with all his strength to ‘train’ Shira to turn her into a submissive and obedient wife. They watched her steps very carefully in the village and Ahmad forbade her to contact her parents and family. When Ahmad wasn’t home he made sure his mother, who constantly heaped abuse on Shira, would be there to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t leave the house.
With time Shira’s persona started withering away. She started to lose her identity and personality and her emotional state became weakened beyond repair. From a young woman full of life Shira became a shadow of herself. She was fearful, obedient and her personality was extinguished. The situation became more complex over the years as the children came along.
This one innocent mistake Shira made marrying Ahmad turned out to be fateful. She became a beaten and tortured woman with no present and no future.
Take Shira’s situation and multiply it
by 70,000 Israeli women in the same situation. Do you get the picture?
The Impact
Hidabrut intermarriage department is one of the central organizations that provide that support.
We can tell you over countless stories we saw with our own eyes but most of all, seared into our souls the memory of a little child, the son of a Jewish mother and Muslim father, which sat in our office the day after he and his mother were saved from the village. A small Jewish boy licking an ice pop covered with souvenirs from the village, scratches and scars from his Muslim father that abused him and his mother. We looked and our insides shook.
There are those who say; “She intermarried that’s her problem”! But this is not her problem it is our problem, everyone’s problem and it needs to be dealt with (not to mention the children that need help). We cannot overlook these women who for the most part probably did not have a simple personal background. Even if they made mistakes out of ignorance or failing to understand the danger, they are still part of Am Yisrael and they could have been your daughter or sister!
Prevention is ¾ of the cure. We are out there explaining to these young women what they’re up against if they make that impulsive mistake and fall in with a Muslim boy. We have material and we work with social media to get our message out there.
Even after they make the mistake and take the plunge and discover that their lives are quite different from what they imagined and they’re imprisoned in their villages cut off from the world they knew beforehand. They feel their lives have been destroyed and they were reduced to being slaves for their husbands who turned into cruel taskmasters. This whole scenario doesn’t change until they get to us or we get to them through family and concerned friends.
What Will You Do with the Money?
We propose making you a partner in this lifesaving endeavor. It will save the lives of these women and their children who might grow up to be Jew haters G-d forbid. We have the motivation, energy and the knowhow but our ability to help is limited.
With your help you will be our partner in the following:
1. We are adding more ‘safe houses’ to those we already have to conceal these women until are safe from harm. Hidabrut has some permanent safe houses and more temporary ones but they don’t fill the need.
2. We will assist in the prevention of intermarriage before it happens including those who plan on actually getting married. We get a steady stream of updates on problematic relationships and we turn to every possible venue to make sure these women know what terrible thing they are about to do. Sometimes we face the future husband if necessary.
3. We are adding professionals to assist and support these women who have ended their toxic relationship with their Muslim husband or fiancée. These professionals include: mental health professionals, employment placement officers, legal counsel and more. You can’t just save women and leave them on the sidewalk somewhere. We need to guide them until they rejoin society as fully rehabilitated, functioning and healthy adults.
4. We are always creating more and more material to explain the situation to the masses. We try to get as many women as possible to watch or videos and read our material. This increases the odds that they will avoid getting into these dangerous and toxic relationships. It’s better to build a bridge with no hole in it than to build a hospital under the bridge to save the casualties.
5. We are expanding our social media gorilla campaigns where we reach these women on their Facebook pages and get to them before it’s too late. We also respond to calls for help from women turning to us from these channels after they see who we are and trust that we can help.
