It’s 2011 For This Crap of the Day: Israelis took the streets of Beit Shemesh en masse yesterday to protest gender segregation by ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists in the city.
Tensions have been high since Israel’s Channel 2 TV station aired a special broadcast spotlighting the bullying of 8-year-old Orot girl’s school student Na’ama Margolese by Haredi extremists, who spat on her and called her a “whore” for dressing in “immodest” clothes.
“When I walk to school in the morning I used to get a tummy ache because I was so scared that they were going to stand and start yelling and spitting,” the Chicago-born daughter of observant Jewish parents told the Associated Press.
“We won’t accept spitting on people in the street just because someone doesn’t approve of their apparel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today before the Knesset — Israel’s legislative body.
Israel will act against “anyone who harasses women, anyone who harasses people in the public sphere,” Netanyahu warned, but added that the “vast majority of the Haredy public” respects the law, and should not be targeted over the actions of extremists.
The premier’s comments come on the heel of reports that a female Israel Defense Forces soldier was verbally assaulted by a Haredi men for refusing to sit in the back of a gender-segregated bus in Jerusalem.
Earlier this week, Ultra-Orthodox men clashed with police in Beit Shemesh, and attacked camera crews from Channel 2 and Channel 10. At a press conference held yesterday, the city’s mayor, Moshe Abutbul, rejected calls to resign and said he would “act decisively against anyone who lifts a hand on children.”
