Shadya

Shadya Zoabi, a Muslim girl from Tamra has practiced Karate since she was eight. In the small Arab village in northern Israel this is hardly a common hobby for a girl. Supported by her devoted father and loyal to her principles she became a world champion: “People have also gone to the moon. So why can’t my daughter do Karate?” Yet, Shadya’s brothers are against her involvement in Karate. In their view, a Muslim woman has a specific path in life, and it is forbidden to stray from this destiny. The social pressure from her brothers and the surrounding community is difficult to overcome. This pressure escalates when Shadya, a member of the Israeli national Karate team, confronts the Palestinian Karate team. Where does she belong? Does she have to repress her Palestinian affiliations? This is a story about the tensions between ambition and tradition, between overlapping and conflicting identities embedded in one life story of a young Israeli-Palestinian-Muslim woman.