On January 17, 2001, Palestinian Authority Arabs from the Tanzim faction of Fatah killed 16-year-old Israeli high school student Ofir Rahum on the outskirts of Ramallah.
The murder was planned by 24-year-old Mona Jaud Awana from Bir Nabala. Mona pretended to be “Sali”, who met and connected with Ofir Rahum via the Internet.
After many months during which Mona/Sali conducted long, private conversations in English with Rahum using ICQ, she gained his confidence and asked him to meet her in Jerusalem.
When he arrived, she drove him to the outskirts of Ramallah, where the lovelorn Rahum was then shot at close range by members of her terror cell, fifteen times, while Mona/Sali watched.
Mona/Sali, by the way, had been present at the Ramallah lynching, and what she saw there “excited” her, and that’s when she began trolling for Israelis on the Internet to kill them.
This was their last Internet conversation:
ofir 15/01/01 i don’t know if iI have enough to come back to ashkelon
sali 15/01/01 16:04 i told you I will bring you back to tel aviv in my friends car but she will be with us..is it ok coz I am afraid to drive at night
sali 15/0101 16:35 you don’t know how much I am waiting for wednesday but we have to say bye till wednesday
ofir 15/01/01 16:35 bye
sali 15/01/01 16:35 love you dear
I thought about that story this morning, when someone told me about a new dating app that wants to promote “world peace” and intermarriage by introducing Israelis and “Palestinians”.
“Verona is how Israelis & Palestinians can connect and find love,” declares the landing page for the new app on Google Play.
You start by identifying yourself as either Israeli or Palestinian and then starts the assimilation process where the Holy Land can then become one, big happy family.
While Ofir Rahum was was the first association that popped into mind (though presumably far from the minds of the creators of this app), intermarriage was the second association I made (and that definitely was on the mind of the creators of Verona dating app).
Intermarriage is a bad thing, in of itself. But in Israel, it sometimes goes beyond just marrying out.
There have been numerous cases of very young Israeli (Jewish) girls being seduced into dating and then eloping with their Arab suitors.
Once they’re in their husband’s control, in his village, usually their treatment changes radically, they are forced into a life of servitude, and often suffer beatings. Sometimes they’re not even the only wife.
They remain trapped, even as their parents spend their waking hours searching for them.
Their stories are published almost exclusively by Israel’s right-wing press, often after a successful rescue mission by organizations such as Yad L’Achim, when the trapped girl is ready to escape.
IMHO, I suspect the main users of this dating app will be foreign lefty activists who want to identify themselves as “Palestinians” (they’d surely never identify themselves as Israelis) and meet real “Palestinians” (hah!), and some radical left-wing Israelis in Tel Aviv who also want to meet “Palestinians”, but without having to dirty themselves by crossing the Green Line. Let them all have each other.
Unfortunately, I’m very concerned for the young, naive Israeli who might end up needing Yad L’Achim’s services because of this app.
I’d wish these app-maker success, except that I don’t. I hope they fail.