Couple Flees Syria, Seeks Help in Israel

Wednesday, January 22, 2014 |  Israel Today Staff  

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Syria

A young Syrian couple with a tragic story did the unthinkable last week and turned to Israel, their sworn enemy, for help after it became clear they would find nothing but death and destruction in their own country.

Having been raised to believe the Jewish state was a blood-thirsty nation that hates all Arabs, the couple was shocked by the reality.

The couple's story, as reported by Israel Hayom, begins in their small village near the town of Daraa in southwestern Syria, just north of the border with Jordan.

Two months ago, the wife, who is only 23, gave birth to the couple's first child, a little girl. Sadly, the infant fell ill, and the couple was unable to leave their village for a nearby hospital because of military blockade imposed on the area. With no way out, the couple returned home and watched their precious baby succumb to the sickness and die.

The couple's situation went from tragic to worse two weeks ago when government forces began bombarding their village in order to root out rebel fighters. The girl's brother, who was one of those rebels, compelled the couple to flee the village. As they made their way out, the brother was shot and killed by government troops before his sister's eyes.

The couple, themselves wounded by the gunfire, returned to the village and were treated at a makeshift field hospital. But their injuries continued to worsen to the point that the girl's cousin smuggled them out of the village and to the border with Israel.

"We were surprised by the welcome and the treatment we received upon entering Israel," she told the newspaper.

The girl, whose identity was kept secret, continued: "We were afraid to come to Israel. They educated us to hate [Israel]. They taught us that this nation is a cruel enemy, but we found the reality to be different. People here have a conscience. Our enemy is in Syria, not in Israel. I wish we could stay here."

For now the couple is hospitalized at Poriyah Hospital near the Galilee town of Tiberias. As Israel Hayom reported, they can't stop hugging one another and crying over what they have gone through. But at least they are safe, and have come to find a compassionate benefactor where before they thought was only an enemy.

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