From a safe house in Morocco to a training center for immigrants in Israel

When Zerihan, who was smuggled from Casablanca to Israel, completes her training course, she says: "I achieved my dream, and today I feel that I am an Israeli"

While Zerihan is a 19-year-old girl smuggled from Morocco to Israel. She lived in a safe house with her sister Yasmin and her mother Najat, who fled to the safe house of her daughters after her Muslim husband, who was forced to marry him, learned that she was Jewish and began to torture her physically and psychologically. Najat did not know herself to be a Jew until her mother revealed it before her death. She found out that her mother and grandmother had been forced to leave Judaism at least in public, when they were forced to marry Muslims.

After intensive efforts, the Israeli television program Avodim was able to smuggle the family into Israel from the safe house in Casablanca, where it was disappearing and committed to its Jewishness under the auspices of the Jewish community in the city. She (she) recounted that she had been listening to Israeli songs and her greatest dream was to enlist in the Israeli army.

The dream came true after she arrived in Israel and joined the army, where she now awaits her appointment in a military post after completing her initial training. She has a new dream: to be a fighter: "There is nothing more I wanted than joining the IDF" Yedioth Ahronoth, "she said." The day of my retirement was the happiest day of my life. It was a dream for me. In Morocco everyone knows the Israeli army, and I always knew I wanted to be a part of it. My mother is very proud of me. "

"Today I feel like an Israeli. Every day I learn more about Israeli culture and how to integrate into society, and the army provides us with a lot of tools that will help us to adapt in the country," she concludes. I learned here about my history and about Zionism. I did not know much about the wars and the presidents of Israel and their former prime ministers. Today, this knowledge helps me a lot and makes me feel part of something big. "

Photo Rights: IDF Spokesperson