Jewish Life Digital Edition September 2015 | Page 11

PHOTOGRAPHS: BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM; WIKIPEDIA.ORG

JEWISH BUSINESSMAN
LEADS EFFORT TO
RESCUE CHRISTIAN, YAZIDI
GIRLS FROM ISIS
A Jewish businessman is leading an effort to
rescue Christian and Yazidi girls kidnapped
by ISIS militants and sold as slaves in northern Iraq, UK-based Catholic magazine The
Tablet reports. Steve Maman, 42, founded the
Liberation of Christian and Yazidi Children
of Iraq (CYCI) a year ago, after ISIS jihadists
took over the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Sinjar,
forcing more than 100 000 civilians to flee.
The Canada-based charity works closely with
a team of negotiators, based inside ISIS-occupied areas, to reunite the kidnapped girls
with their families. The group claims to have
rescued more than 120 women so far.
“We liberate children from their captors
through the use of on-the-ground brokers,”
said Maman. His organisation’s website says,
“The price of a child’s life to remove them from
the hands of ISIS is between $1 000-$3 000.”
Maman says his personal hero is Oskar
Schindler, the German industrialist who
saved 1 200 Jews from the Nazi Holocaust.
CYCI also collaborates with Anglican Canon
Andrew White’s Foundation for Relief and
Reconciliation in the Middle East, which provides shelter to those who have fled ISIS. ISIS
kidnapped 7 000 Yazidi women and girls into
slavery last August, according to The Tablet.
An unknown number of Christian women
and girls were also captured, and CYCI estimates around 2 700 are still being held by the
terror group. According to the charity’s website, the women and children, some as young
as eight years old, are held in horrible conditions and are often forced to sleep in cages.
They are then “sold like cattle in markets” as
slaves to ISIS fighters and militants.
Maman said CYCI receives money for rescue
missions mainly from his own “remarkably
generous” Jewish business partners. He noted he has approached 60 church organisations in Canada, but has failed to attract their
support. “This is a finite problem that can be
solved with money,” said the entrepreneur.
“We need Christians to open up at the same
rate as my Jewish friends have.”
Article courtesy of Matzav.com

HAMAS MAN REVEALS TUNNELS
AND IRANIAN INVOLVEMENT

A Hamas fighter arrested last month in a joint Shin Bet and police operation has
provided an abundance of information on the terror group’s tunnel-digging in
the Gaza Strip, its strategy in a future conflict with Israel, and its methods for
obtaining money from Iran. Adel Shaer, 21, resident of Rafah in Gaza and a tunnel digger in the group’s armed wing, was arrested at the beginning of July as he
tried to pass though the Erez border crossing from Gaza into Israel. During questioning, he disclosed a vV