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Israel steps up its war on mixed marriages
Sheen, David
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-steps-its-war-mixed-marriages/25051Date Written: 2018-07-23 Publisher: Electronic Intifada Year Published: 2018 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX22894 The Israeli government has long funded various efforts to try to prevent romantic relationships between Jews and non-Jews, both inside territories it controls and around the world. But a new program confirmed this month by the tourism ministry takes Israel's war on families of mixed religion or ethnicity to a new level. Abstract: - Excerpt: Israeli media reported on 10 July that in 2019, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fund trips to the country for foreign Jews, with the express objective of participating in singles mixers on and around Tu B'Av, a day celebrated by some as the "Jewish Valentine's Day." "Over the course of the events, young Jewish-Israelis and Jews that live in the diaspora will get to know one another, and that is likely to lead to couples forming," predicted Israel Hayom, the pro-Netanyahu newspaper owned by casino billionaire, Republican financier and anti-Palestinian donor Sheldon Adelson. "We'll return to the glory days," ruling Likud Party lawmaker Sharren Haskel told the paper. "Young [Jewish] men and women from all over the world will arrive and form relationships with local young men and women, in order to prevent assimilation and strengthen the connection to Judaism." Haskel used a Hebrew word that literally translates as "assimilation," but that in modern Hebrew is commonly used as a euphemism for miscegenation – romantic relationships and procreation between Jews and non-Jews. Haskel recently toured the al-Aqsa mosque compound along with Uri Ariel, a cabinet minister and leading figure in the Jewish extremist movement that supports the destruction of the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque in order to replace them with a Jewish temple. Israeli governments past and present have spent enormous sums subsidizing trips to the country for young Jews from abroad. Between 2010 and 2015 alone, the government gave more than $250 million to the largest provider of such trips, Birthright Israel. Adelson himself donated $40 million to Birthright in 2015. Subject Headings |