To explore Israel’s new Nation-State Law, we talked with Yasmeen abu-Fraiha, a young Israeli-Arab of Bedouin origin, a medical doctor and researcher, who is a glaring Israeli success story. Two years ago, at the age of 27, the Israeli financial newspaper Globes included her in a list of the 40 most promising young Israelis.
Abu-Fraiha is an “assimilated” Israeli-Arab, who grew up in a Jewish community in southern Israel and whose Hebrew is better than her Arabic. Most of her friends are Jewish Israeli. She knows the history of Zionism better than most Israeli Jews. Still, she feels like the state – her state – is trying to deny her Israeliness through the Knesset’s latest legislative action.
Abu-Fraiha is currently acting as the Executive Director of GENESIS, an NGO she founded that aims to prevent genetic diseases in the Middle East, especially in the Bedouin community, by spearheading premarital genetic testing and matching. She holds a BSc in Medical Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Yasmeen’s 972 article https://972mag.com/i-dont-need-a-law-to-remind-me-of-my-inequality/136874/
Yasmeen’s Forbes profile: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2017/08/10/a-young-bedouin-doctor-pioneering-genetic-testing-in-israels-negev-desert-30-under-30/#a7769f049d16
