Israel

Israel's street battles over assimilation

September 18, 2014 10:18

By

Nathan Jeffay,

Nathan Jeffay

1 min read

Jerusalem's city centre is witnessing a backlash against hard-line right-wingers who take to the streets on popular clubbing nights to form a self-declared "honour guard" against Jewish-Arab relationships.

The controversial Lahava organisation arranged high-profile demonstrations outside the recent wedding of Morel Malka, a Jewish convert to Islam, and her Arab partner Mahmoud Mansour. It also runs a hotline for people to report mixed faith romances so that its activists can persuade the Jewish partner to break it off.

Lahava's chairman, Benzi Gopstein, said that by setting up a stall in Jerusalem on busy nights, his group is breaking the silence on assimilation.

"We all hear about assimilation all over the world, but in Israel no-one speaks about it," he said, adding: "The message is that Jews need to date and marry just Jews."

To get more Israel news, click here to sign up for our free Israel Briefing newsletter.

Support the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper