The Israeli Arab lawyer who defends Jewish women

He is a Muslim, card-carrying feminist, and most of his work is representing Jewish women in rabbinical courts
Hamam Hlehel is an Arab lawyer from the northern Israeli region of Galilee. There is nothing unusual about that. Yet the fact that most of his clients are Jewish women is nothing short of remarkable. And if we add to it that he's spent 19 years representing these clients in rabbinical courts, there is no doubt Hleihel is unique.
The first time he walked into a rabbinical court to represent a client. an usher asked him to wear a skullcap on his head. After a debate and the intervention of the judges, it was decided he would not be required to wear one - because he was a Muslim.
Hlehel has since has become a familiar and respected figure in rabbinical courts, which in Israel enjoy exclusive jurisdiction over matters of marriage and divorce of Jews.
"I won most of the cases I've dealt with," he says in an interview with i24news. "I have a thorough understanding of the law and work hard on preparing myself. The judges are counting on me so I am given special assignments as an arbitrator for the court."

i24news"Hamam Hlehel "

Only once has he endured overt racism, he says. "I defended a Jew in one of the cases. The judges treated me with contempt, and we lost the case. Later, in the minutes of the meeting, I found a page where one of the judges wrote 'this woman was crazy, she hired an Arab attorney.' Probably that's why we lost the case."
But the "crazy" woman isn't alone. Not only are 90% of his clients Jewish, 40% are Orthodox.

The day that changed his life forever

Four years after he began representing women, Hlehel had a case that changed his life. "The men whose wives I represent see me as an enemy. I always had hostility from them. These men usually have suspicions of a romantic relationship between me and their wives. If the husband is racist and violent it's even worse," he says.
In June 2000 he took it upon himself to represent pro bono a woman who suffered violence at the hands of a particularly difficult husband, who openly cheated on her and took drugs in the family home in front of small children.
"When the husband realized that an Arab represented his wife, he asked why Arabs are permitted entry in a rabbinical court. The court did not accept his objection. Then, every time he met me, he would issue serious threats. I thought the he would calm down and did not file a police complaint against him, which would cost me dearly."
One day his wife was at the mall with a friend, when suddenly they were accosted by a stranger who asked his wife whether she is the spouse of the lawyer Hamam. "When she answered in the affirmative he kicked her in the stomach, which led to the miscarriage of the twins she was carrying."

Card-carrying feminist

Hleihel, 44, emphasizes that he is a feminist. "I am proud that I am a feminist," he says, adding that his views have not bought him many friends among the Arab community.

i24news"Office of Hamam Hlehel "

"Violence against women is outrageous, and a man who beats his wife is a weak person who suffers from a lack of manliness, and take advantage of his physiological advantages over the woman". Hleihel even lectures on behalf of the Ministry of Health on violence against women.
Although he represents Jews and lives among Jews, Hleihel is proud of his Arab identity. "I am proud that I look the other in the eye and accept her or him for what they are as a person. My father was a school teacher and taught us to respect others regardless of their background. My neighbors are Orthodox Jews, and we have good neighborly relations, and each respects the other."
Hleihel lives with his family in a spacious home in the hilltop Galilee town of Safed near his native village of Akbrh. The law firm where he has worked for 20 years, since graduating from law school in Greece, is located in the center of Safed.
His second wife - the first, who was attacked, was Greek - is Ukrainian. "I have a unique and supportive wife," he says. "I have no reservations about mixed marriages. I always looked for someone who's psychologically compatible with me, and that woman happened to be a foreigner."
His daughter is studying at a Jewish school in Safed, but she feels she is Arab and Muslim, he says. "She has a strong sense of identity, but above all, she considers herself a feminist humanist."
Hiba Zoabi is an i24news web editor