JOHAR Abu Lashin was living the American Dream.
An Israeli Arab who had emigrated to the United States, he became the world welterweight boxing champion, married an American and bought a horse farm in Tennessee.
Then everything went wrong, thanks to Middle East politics – as the moving documentary “Raging Dove” shows.
“I’m the only Arab-Israeli-Palestinian-Muslim-Baptist-American world champion I know,” says the well-spoken boxer.
But that tangle of identities became too much for Abu Lashin to handle when he used his own money to organize a title match for himself in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank.
He wound up in a political quagmire so deep even a boxer couldn’t fight his way out – caught between Israelis who didn’t want to help an Arab and Palestinian politicians who felt ambivalent because Abu Lashin used to wave the Israeli flag in the ring.
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RAGING DOVE
[] (Three stars)
In English, Hebrew and Arabic, with subtitles. Running time: 90 minutes. Not rated (mild profanity). At the Two Boots Pioneer Theater, Third Street and Avenue A.