Replies to post #164234 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

The Israeli TV Report on Gender Segregation That Sparked Protest


Naama Margolese, 8, the daughter of observant Orthodox Jews, has been spat on and otherwise insulted by ultra-Orthodox
men and boys on her way to school because her modest dress did not adhere to their standards.

By ROBERT MACKEY December 28, 2011, 11:18 am

As my colleague Isabel Kershner explains, [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/world/middleeast/israeli-girl-at-center-of-tension-over-religious-extremism.html ] an Israeli television report on a girl who was harassed by ultra-Orthodox men for not being dressed modestly enough sparked a protest against gender segregation on Tuesday night in the town on Beit Shemesh.

The complete video report, broadcast last Friday by Israel’s Channel 2, has been posted on the Israeli Web site +972 with English subtitles.GO HERE - [ http://972mag.com/watch-ultra-orthodox-spit-on-immodest-8-year-old-girl-in-bet-shemesh/31268/ ] It's Worth it IF you are interested in this conflict

After the report was shown, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, insisted that gender segregation would not be tolerated. On Monday, as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, [ http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/ultra-orthodox-israel-police-clash-in-beit-shemesh-officer-wounded-1.403743 ] about 300 ultra-Orthodox men attacked police officers, hurling stones at the officers after they removed a sign ordering women not to walk past a synagogue in Beit Shemesh.

On Wednesday, Haaretz added, [ http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-female-soldier-accosted-for-rebuffing-haredi-bus-segregation-1.404158 ] a female soldier from the Israel Defense Forces said that she was threatened and called “a prostitute” by an ultra-Orthodox man in Jerusalem who was enraged that she had refused to move to the back of a bus otherwise segregated by gender.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/the-israeli-tv-report-on-gender-segregation-that-sparked-protest/?ref=middleeast