Arabs from the Gulf states find solace confiding to Israeli ‘shrinks’

Why would an Arab woman in Lebanon, Qatar, or even Syria use the Internet to find an Israeli psychologist because her husband is running around with a ‘girlfriend’?

A quick Google search is enough to reveal that Dr. Rafael Richman is a psychologist based in the German Colony of Jerusalem. But many of his online patients would rather not know that.

Dr. Rafael Richman speaking online with a patient from his home in Jerusalem earlier this month.

Dr. Rafael Richman speaking online with a patient from his home in Jerusalem earlier this month. – Photo by Michal Fattal

Take, for example, the women from neighboring Arab countries who wait until the coast is clear to contact him over cyberspace and vent their frustrations about their husbands. Or the young Muslim men from around the region who have no one else nearby to confide in about their attraction to other members of the same sex.

 

To read the article in its entirety, View original HAARETZ publication at: http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/anglo-file/arabs-in-the-gulf-find-comfort-in-israeli-shrinks-1.490479