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| By: israelinsider staff |
| Published: March 6, 2007 |
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"I respect the Druze community and its religious leaders and I am whole with my decision to drop out of the competition. I'm a little sad because my dream of being Miss Israel is over. It isn't easy for me to give it up," Angelina Fares, an 18-year-old beauty competition finalist who dropped out of the pageant due to pressure from within her Druze community, said Monday.
Fares was the first Druze ever to compete in the Miss Israel beauty pageant, but her dreams were dashed when police announced they had arrested two men from her northern Israel town, Sajur, for plotting to murder her in order to prevent defilement of the "honor of the Druze community."
Angelina announced her decision at a press conference in a Druze center in Julis on Monday evening, and said she did not mean to offend anyone within the Druze community.
"It's a very difficult feeling...I had a dream of being a beauty queen and representing Israel and women with honor. I was shocked when I heard about the plan to kill me. I've been severely traumatized, I didn't know anything [about it] and was surprised," she said.
Sheikh Muwaffak Tarif, the Druze spiritual leader, also spoke at the press conference about the importance of preserving Druze values of chastity and honor: "The Druze have a red line too, we are for progress and advancement and technology alongside maintaining chastity and honor. There are many ways to integrate into society while keeping to tradition and values. If we do not preserve ourselves, the values will crumble and what will we be left with? Angelina prevented the defilement of the community's honor."
Read Israel Insider's first article on the subject, Police thwart plot to commit honor killing against Druze beauty contestant. |
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