AllMovie

In the Middle East, where national origin has often become the basis for war, Johar Abu Lasheen was a boxer whose bloodline caused him no amount of problems. While deeply proud of being an Israeli, Abu Lasheen is of Palestinian descent and Muslim faith, and while Palestinians regarded him with contempt for remaining in Israel, Israelis were no more accepting given his background. Despite winning the welterweight championship in Israel, Abu Lasheen found it all but impossible to stage a fight there, so he relocated to the United States, where he settles in Johnson City, TN, after marrying an American woman. But Abu Lasheen discovered his heritage made him no more popular in the States, and he was stripped of his title after he could find no challengers willing to enter the ring with him so he could defend it. Documentary filmmaker Duki Dror followed the strange and checkered career of "The Israeli Kid," and Raging Dove is the result, in which this promising fighter finds himself spurned by the people of three nations in his bid to remain a champion.