We previously discussed the plight of a young teenage girl who fought for asylum rather than return to the medieval laws of Saudi Arabia where women must live without equal rights or opportunities. The case for asylum of woman from our “close ally” is strong given the violence meted out to women who seek to express their own views or pick their own future, let alone their own religion. The stark choice for women was tragically evident this week when a medical examiner confirmed that two young sisters chose to die together rather than return to Saudi Arabia. Tala Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 22, reportedly wanted asylum but when their credit card ran out of money, they bound themselves together and threw themselves into the Hudson River, according to chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson as said in an official statement.
The two Saudi Arabian sisters moved here with their mother and two brothers and reportedly sought asylum.
They were found duct-taped in the river near Manhattan’s Upper West Side in October. They were facing each other and had no signs of trauma. It was later learned that the sisters ran away from home to try to avoid a return to Saudi Arabia. They ended up bouncing from a shelter and went to New York in fear that they would be forced back into a country of arranged marriages and systemic discrimination against women. So they checked into an expensive hotel and ran out their only credit card and then died together.
Their bodies were returned to Saudi Arabia.
Their deaths are a stark reminder of the dire plight of girls and women in Saudi Arabia. These girls had experienced a society that would allow them total freedom in choosing their careers, movement, and loved ones. I have said before that the women remaining in the Kingdom and still fighting for equal rights should be inspirations for everyone who believes equality and liberty are inalienable rights.
The thought of these two sisters making this dreadful decision on some bridge over the Hudson river is haunting.
Tragic
I would be very interested in reviewing the case files for this. I would have grave reservations about coming to a quick conclusion as this being a suicide, though I am not going to rule it out. My hope is the investigators did not come to a conclusion quickly upon discovering the bodies without the duct tape on their torsos, hands and arms and then deferring unconsciously to confirmation bias. There exists the possibility that if a homicide did occur, the girl and woman managed to free themselves from any tape wrapped on their arms: Absent any residual adhesive thereon.
I hope they ruled out the possibility that this was an honor killing.
If they did commit suicide, their deaths underscore one of the reasons why I oppose illegal immigration. I also wish to have more of a merit based immigration system. Willingness to adopt our customs and adapt to our Western values should be part of the immigration requirement. It is frustrating how many people brazenly break our laws, feeling entitled to swarm over the border, and how dare we think we have a right to say who, how many, and when. Meanwhile, there are truely desperate, legitimate asylum seekers who need help, who want very badly to live in the West and experience our freedoms.
It’s just not fair that the law does not apply to illegal immigrants, who are welcomed with open arms in sanctuary cities, but girls like this didn’t get the help they needed.
I’ve known women who were in arranged marriages. I also knew a young Muslim woman who had to go back to India as soon as she graduated high school, for an arranged marriage to a much older man she’d never met. She didn’t want to do it, was scared, but if she refused, her family would disown her. She grew up so sheltered that the thought of losing her family was too great, at that tender young age. She went back, and I have no idea what happened to her.
The reality is that regardless of that silly rhetoric of the war on women, women have it better in the US that anywhere in the world. Sweden used to have a good quality of life, but mass migration turned that into a rape capital and ruined it for Swedish women. The thing is, that when an undifferentiated swath of people move from a dangerous country infamous for abusing women and being anti-Semitic, then you import dangerous people who abuse women and are anti-Semitic. Open borders with a country run by drug cartels means that we have drug cartels easily operating in the US. Illegal immigration from Tenencingo, the human trafficking capital of the world, means that we have human trafficking run by families from Tenencingo. That’s why you get when you don’t have a merit based immigration system, combined with frequent illegal immigration.
Foreigners order up whatever customized benefits they can conceive.
45% of Americans don’t pay taxes but are allowed to vote.
The American Founders claimed “TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.”
The parasites in America are awarded “REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION.”
America is incoherent and hysterical.
America has achieved its inverse.
What Would George Washington Do?
If these girls didn’t commit suicide, then these were probably honor killings.
for all the nutty Russia phobes out there who have been harassing Donald Trump for 2 years under the excuse of Russia this and that. You are harming diplomacy and your paranoia may kill us all. May. but how ? by sabotaging better relations and potential disarmament talks.
wait! here’s more
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-22/dismantling-doomsday-machines
but Donald Trump tries to pull 2 thousand men out from nearby Russian forces in Syria to de-escalate, and suddenly he’s a monster!
Mr. Kurtz,…
I think that Trump is, at heart, an isolationist who leans toward pulling back American military
presence in foreign countries.
He’s sent signals that he wanted to exit Syria since early 2018. His recent flipflopping on that issue, with the statement that “they’d all be out soon” was quickly walked back, and it appears now that the timeline for withdrawing American troops from Syria will be driven be events, not by the calender.
The reaction(s) to Trump’s contrasting statements about troop withdrawals from Syria was interesting; many raised the legitimate concerns about the fate of the Kurdish allies in the wake of a too-rapid withdrawal of troops, and the fact that remants of ISIS still had a toehold in the region.
So, particularly ( but not exclusively) from the left, the earlier Trump announcement about a rapid removal of U.S. forces drew heavy criticism.
I was wondering how many of those very same critics would react when there were U.S. casualties in Syria, and it didn’t take long to find out.
One of our resident policy geniuses here is now howling about the ” blood on Trump’s hands” because of the recent U.S. casualties in Syria.
If the “policy position” simultaneously held is that A.–U.S. troops should not be in Syria due to the risk of causualties, and B.— that a rapid withdrawal is betrayal of the Kurds and leaving unfinished business with ISIS, then this isn’t about policy issues.
This is more of a mindless, knee-jerk opposition to ANY Syrian policy decision because of animus toward the one making those decisions.
Once that is the “basis” for a discussion of “policy” issues, there is really no point in trying to have a debate based on issues with those who are speaking out of both sides of their mouth by holding two contradictory positions at the same time.
First, It is truly heart wrenching for even one of these young ladies to give up their lives in this way. It bothers me more that they felt or believed that there was no other option open to them. Not sure why they were not allowed to stay in the US but surely other countries like Canada would have been open to their plight. Second, the US is one of if not the most generation nation in the world today (perhaps in history). But even the US cannot solve everyone’s problems or issues. People all over the world are starving or mistreated. No nation is perfect. There are always those who are not treated as fairly as we would like. As much as we would like to we will never be able to resolve everyone’s issues. But, we also have to remember that each person has a choice. Unfortunately, those young ladies apparently chose to make a choice. A choice to give up the most precious gift they had been given. Third, I was unaware of these two young ladies until I read this in your article. Surely, others must have known of these ladies plight. Some may have helped but perhaps they or others could have done more. Why couldn’t their own family have kept them – even hidden them from authorities. In this time in the US there is no reason in my mind why someone(s) couldn’t have helped them. Why do we always look to the government for help? Why do we more often then not blame the government? I old enough to remember and fortunate to live in a society where people help the less fortunate. What has happened to us? But more importantly, what are each of us as individuals personally going to do to help prevent this from happening in the future? What price are we willing to pay so that someone else can enjoy the liberty and equality that we have enjoyed in our lifetimes?
Thoughtful post, and good questions. Thank you.
Saudi girls are very sheltered. Even though they lived here for a while, I doubt they had the freedoms or savvy that someone raised here would have. Some of the girls only socialize with family and a select few girl friends approved upon by family. There are some rebellious ones, but some are extremely sheltered. They just woudn’t know what to do, or know that they had any defense. They are conditioned since birth to be under the complete control of their male relatives. Some have never been on a date, never really spoken to a boy, don’t know anyone really that’s outside the family, and are very shy in school. It’s not just the Kingdom, either. I’ve also known Persians, Indian Muslims, who are extremely dependent upon their mothers. Other cultures have this, as well. The pressure upon some Asian kids to do what their families tell them is rather intense.
Control either breeds rebellion or submission.
I would not expect the same resilience or reserves in a person who’s never really experienced the world as I would a jaded American city teenager.
Plus, frankly, honor killings are hard to prevent. A girl can leave her family here in the US, but what’s to stop her male relatives from showing up on her door? If someone hates you that much, they are going to do what they want to do. They could leave the country before anyone discovers a murder. Often her own mother helps trick her into returning to her family, claiming all has been forgiven.
The girls might have just been hopeless that there was no way they could avoid being either killed, or dragged back to Saudi Arabia for either murder or an arranged marriage/life of rape.
I have witnessed hopelessness in a girl who did not want an arranged marriage, but saw no way out of it and went home to go through with it. She wouldn’t accept help because she didn’t see the point. It’s really sad. That’s one of the reasons why I find the vote generator “war on women” so distasteful. People need to witness real abuse to perhaps stop using such terms so lightly.
I disagree that the ones who remain in the Kingdom are an inspiration. They subscribe to a theology that prescribes violence toward their sex.
Rosemary – they cannot leave without the permission of a male relative. The asylum process is so lengthy they would be forcibly returned by angry family before it concluded. The Kingdom will arrest them at the airport if they lack permission to leave. If they did escape, but did not have pre-secured protection, all they would do is anger their family and get drowned in the family pool when they are forcibly returned.
Plus, leaving means giving up their family and any hope of reconciliation.
Women are trapped there. There is a very unhealthy obsession with female behavior in the Middle East. I also cannot wrap my head around how very common it is for a family to desire the death of a daughter in the belief it restores their honor. How could a parent kill their own child to spare themselves embarrassment?
I knew someone who was arrested for wearing nail polish in Iran. It’s not a very good place for any female to be, and women are some of their own worst enemies. Brainwashed women perpetuate this none sense and populate some of the religious police.
I’m still not so sure they didn’t get bumped off ….
I agree.
They need to do a toxicology study. See if they were drugged. It could have been a suicide or murder.
So heartbreaking. We are having to spend so much of our resources on the southern borders that we have become numb to those who are truly crying out. To think that death was a better option to the women than returning to Saudi Arabia is heart-wrenching. I guess it’s true that Actions Speak Louder than Words !!!
Tragic and preventable. For all those “womyn march leaders”, where the frick were they?
Oh….meanwhile the Dims are focusing their attention on their priorities…. screw the taxpayers and undermind Trump by any means necessary from now till 2020
Pity it wasnt Nancy and the geriatric Dims leaders in the House jumping off of the bridge. Fear not, they are raising as much dark money as possible to be posterboard hypocrites in having no integrity. None
###
House Oversight Panel to Probe White House Security Clearance Process
https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-oversight-panel-to-probe-white-house-security-clearance-process-11548259686
“The House committee that conducts oversight of the executive branch plans a wide-ranging probe into the security-clearance process at the White House, the panel’s chairman said Wednesday.”
###
Liberals Outpaced Conservatives in ‘Dark Money’ Midterm Spending
https://www.wsj.com/articles/liberals-outpaced-conservatives-in-dark-money-midterm-spending-11548241201
“As Democratic presidential hopefuls promise not to boost their candidacies through spending by outside groups with cash from wealthy donors, sometimes given secretly, a new report says the party received most of the so-called “dark money” spent on political ads in the 2018 midterms.”
I just love it when one of the gullible rubes, dupes, klan wannabees, pocket-traitors or grifters on the make start whining about the fact that their criminogenic, small-minded, cretinous, dishonest, traitorous, buffoon-in-chief is having to face the consequences of his actions. Please post more materials Just. Like. This. Thanks for playing; it’ll all be over soon.
this is to “what is that ticking sound?” estovia
Disgraceful, Saudi Arabia is no close ally of mine. The Women’s Movement will be all over this, right? Their silence is deafening. I’m sorry that they didn’t know where to go or who to ask.
I so agree! What is the point of a “women’s movement” if girls like these have nowhere to turn? Time to remove ourselves militarily from the medieval Middle East and serve as a refuge for women seeking freedom.
“…equality and liberty are inalienable rights.”
No one in the U.S. has a right to grouse about Saudi Arabia’s culture so long as the U.S. denies not only equality and liberty for unborn babies but also life and the pursuit of happiness as well.
Abortion would be non-existent in the U.S. if prostitution were legal. As it is, a hundred-million pro-life men genuflect to their liberal wives and girlfriends, obsequiously supporting abortion in exchange for sex.
Every year U.S. women deny the right to life for millions of unborn babies through outright murder, while at the same time in Saudi Arabia abortion is illegal, where the rights of the unborn are supreme to all those living.
If the right to life for unborn babies would ever be restored, the pro-life majority must first get behind legalization of prostitution, paving the way to neutralize hundred-million pro-choice women using sex to hold men hostage for political support of abortion.
“Abortion would be nonexistent if prostitution were legal.” What else is in that vinegar tea?
There is no “pro-life majority”. Most Americans support reproductive freedom, and have for decades. Your incredible misogynist rave proves you are likely: white, well over 60 and not college-educated.
This is just more blood on Trump’s tiny little hands. Add these girls to the 4 Americans killed in Syria after Trump proclaimed that ISIS was “badly beaten”. The only one “badly beaten” is Trump in the polls. CBS’s latest poll lists a 39% approval rating.
nothing to do with trump at all. a completely meritless statement.
https://psmag.com/news/whats-going-on-with-the-clinton-foundation
It’s hillary who took the big money from the Saudis and time she be held to account for it
Mr. Kurtz,…
If you are expecting meritorious comments from one who primarily does hysterical rants, you need to be more realistic in your expectations.
https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2015/09/15/5-reasons-donald-trump-cant-win-the-gop-nomination
The lag in posting comments here sometimes makes it difficult to know if or when a comment will be posted, so I’ll try this one again.
Trump’s poll numbers frequently work their way into these threads, regardless of the original topic of the column.
I don’t dismiss voluminous, up-to the- minute polling data as totally irrelevant, but for a more cogent analysis of why Trump is unelectable and finished as a politician, I enclosed the link to this article.
Natacha, honey, why don’t you go kick a puppy? It will surely bring you joy, and make you laugh.
Most Americans support reproductive freedom, and have for decades.
If fantasy helps you get through the day, Natacha, fine. MBITRW, about 70% of the population will if asked endorse restrictions which would proscribe 95% of the abortions performed in this country.
Where is your proof? Just another pointless assertion, don’t you tire of yourself?
Watch this video where Andrea Bocelli tells his story and why he is ‘pro-life’. Being ‘pro-life’ does not mean one is ‘anti-women’ or ‘anti-choice’. It means one is pro-life. See the difference?
Sorry to inform you, but the days when women were the chattel property of their nearest male relative are over. Now, women have control over their own lives–including their reproductive system. The end result is that hiding behind the imaginary bodies of make believe children merits you nothing but ridicule and further evidence of your inadequacy. Unfortunately for you–and your ilk–now, in order to get some sort of social interaction with a woman who’s willing, you types might need to work on it; I recommend mixing in a salad once in awhile; hitting the treadmill; and, taking a shower each day. So sorry for your social pariah status and condition.
this is to “so Handmaid’s Tale is just fiction?” vinegary
Their deaths are a stark reminder of the dire plight of girls and women in Saudi Arabia.
No, their deaths are a reminder that the young often lack perspective.
That is a true statement.
and our democrat party welcomes islamists with open arms, I am ashamed for them