Israeli extremists’ new target: Leonardo DiCaprio

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

A publicity seeking ultra-nationalist organization in Israel is launching a media campaign to urge Bar Rafaeli not to marry Leonardo DiCaprio. Why? Because the world-famous actor is not Jewish.

Baruch Marzel, an American-born Israeli nationalist, wrote a letter to Rafaeli urging her to marry Jewish on behalf of an organization named Lehavah (Facebook, עברית). Lehavah, which means “flame” in Hebrew, is in this case an acronym for “Preventing Assimilation in the Holy Land.”

The letter begs Rafaeli not to marry DiCaprio so she can give birth to many, many Jewish babies with a Jewish father:

“It is not by chance that you were born Jewish.

“Your grandmother and her grandmother did not dream that one of their descendants would one day remove the family’s future generations from the Jewish people,” the letter continued. “Assimilation has forever been one of the enemies of the Jewish people.”

Marzel told Refaeli that he “has nothing against Mr. DiCaprio, who I have no doubt is a talented actor.” Still, he urged Refaeli: “Come to your senses, look forward and back too – and not only the present. Don’t marry Leonardo DiCaprio, don’t harm the future generations.”

It is worth noting that, according to Orthodox Jewish religious law, any potential children DiCaprio would sire with Rafaeli would be considered Jewish without needing to convert. In Orthodox Judaism, “Jewishness” is considered to be inherited from the mother, not the father.

But much more importantly, Marzel forwarded his letter to Rafaeli to all of Israel’s major newspapers. Despite being reprehensible, Marzel’s public relations instincts are uncanny.

The former spokesman for Jewish terrorist organization Kach, Marzel has urged a Jewish holy war against homosexuals, agitated for the expulsion of Arabs from Israel and has been arrested over a dozen times. Charges include assaults on police officers, random Palestinians and Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery.

Marzel currently serves as a parliamentary aide to the mildly less fascistic Michael Ben-Ari.

When not writing angry letters to supermodels with the gall to date one of the planet’s best known actors, Lehavah’s stock-in-trade is based around sending members to “urge” Jewish women in Israel to stop dating their Arab boyfriends. Charming.

Though, for some strange reason, very few Arab women in Israel date Jewish men, but that’s just one more confusing aspect of life in the Holy Land.

Marzel’s next publicity stunt? Only time will tell.