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Ashkelon rally targets Arabs who 'seduce girls'
City councilman leading protest says he is not racist. 'Seducing teenage girls is a crime,' he says
Residents of Ashkelon are planning to protest Tuesday against "Arabs who associate with girls".
Fliers handed out in anticipation of the rally say, "Father, wake up before Yusuf is sitting in your living room".
Leading the rally is City Councilman Tomer Glam, who says the protest does not stem from racism. "Associating with minors is a serious criminal offence," he explained.
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A few weeks ago Glam asked Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin to hold an urgent debate on what he called "the problem of Arabs seducing Ashkelon's young girls".
"Recently we have been witnessing a serious threat. Dozens of Arabs living near the beach in Ashkelon are harming young girls from good homes and seducing them," Glam's letter to the mayor said. "In one case I know of, they forced a girl to work as a prostitute in another city."
He asked that the council discuss the police's ability to handle the trouble as well as the establishment of school programs to teach teenage girls of the risks involved. But Glam says his warning has gone unheeded. "That's why we decided to hold the rally," he said.
A number of other Ashkelon councilmen, including Deputy Mayor Shimon Cohen, have joined in. "There are extreme and shocking cases in Ashkelon," Cohen said.
"I have been saying for years that we must teach girls to beware of Arabs from the time they begin high school and maybe even earlier. There is no doubt that such a painful issue requires a plan, whether local or national, which includes human and economic resources."
Glam claims the problem of Arabs seducing teenage girls is sweeping the nation. "I was confronted with the case of a girl from Ashkelon who was impregnated by an Arab, and after being abused she decided to flee and was rescued, but her parents wouldn't take her back," he recounted.
"In another case a girl disappeared from home and was found a week later at a Tel Aviv hotel together with her life partner, an Arab who was forcing her to work as a prostitute at the hotel."
'Police won't lift finger'
Glam insists he is not a racist. "If a 20-year old woman wants to go around with an Arab that's her decision, but we cannot allow girls aged 12-16 to be seduced by Arabs without expressing outrage," he said.
"There are construction workers who rent apartments in Ashkelon and bring girls from the age of 12 to 'have fun' with them at parties which include the handing out of alcohol to these girls. Residents who live in these buildings have gone to the police, but they say their hands are tied despite the fact that the girls are minors."
Extreme right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir says he receives daily phone calls about girls being harassed by Arabs, which come mainly from mixed-race cities such as Ashkelon, Akko, Safed, and Bat Yam.
"Unfortunately Israel Police is losing control and is not lifting a finger, so we must assist all of the dear residents who feel endangered and whom no one will help," he explained.
In holding the rally, Ashkelon will join Bat Yam and Hatikva neighborhood in Tel Aviv, both of which have held such protests recently.
Yair Altman contributed to this report
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