Sisters Maia and Rina Dee were taken from the UK by their British Jewish parents to live in the illegal settlement of Efrat, in the West Bank, Palestine (photo credit: BBC).
The two British Israeli sisters were tragically shot dead in Palestine, by a Palestinian man along the Jordan Valley. Leah, the mother, whose English name was Lucy, is critical in hospital.
It has been reported the father was driving in a separate car behind the car that the two sisters were travelling in with their mother.
The father is Leo Dee who is a Rabbi, was previously the Rabbi at Radlett United Synagogue, in the UK. It has been reported that he saw some of the incident play out. It is not known if he was in a position to intervene in any way.
The family had moved to the West Bank and were living in an illegal settlement called Efrat. Settlements like Efrat are recognised by the UK and the vast majority of the world as illegally occupied by Israel, and see these parts of the land as belonging to the Palestinians.
This incident and incidents like this, raises questions about the wider role of the UK government in allowing British Jewish citizens to go and live on illegally occupied land.
Allowing people to go and live in those lands could be argued is aiding and abetting British citizens to break international law and, committing a crime. Not allowing British citizens to go and commit crimes in a foreign country is the principle that outlaws British citizens to go and fight for groups like ISIS. The degrees of severity in both these scenarios are different – but the principle is the same.
Should we be allowing British Jewish citizens to go and break international law in these illegally occupied territories? The Israeli occupation is brutal and systemic, we know that, and we also know there is going to push back and on occasions, very hard push back from the Palestinians – these occupied territories are essentially war zones. To a varying degree comparable to eastern Ukraine – where Russia is the aggressor and the Ukrainians are defending – over in the OPTs, Israel is the Russia and the Palestinians are the Ukrainians.
The father is a Rabbi, and as with all religious leaders whether it be in Judaism, Islam or Christianity – they are presumed to be more likely to have a fundamental view of religious texts and its subsequent interpretation. The question must also be asked, why are people like Rabbi Dee and other theocratic Jewish families, taking their families and putting them in peril in the middle of a conflict zone, and essentially rendering their family members as criminals. By placing them on internationally designated illegal territory.
Had the family remained in the UK, as the vast majority of citizens choose to do, they would have been safe. Had the family decided to even go and live in sovereign Israel, then the two sisters most likely would have been alive today. But led by Rabbi Dee, the family specifically and very intentionally chose to go and live in the illegally occupied territories. Alas, it has turned out to be a very costly, but an entirely avoidable decision.
May the memories of the two sisters be a blessing, and hoping for a speedy recovery for the mother.
