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Last update - 03:26 11/02/2008 What people look like By Yitzhak Laor Tags: Head scarves In an Israel Television documentary, one more visit by Germans and "third-generation" Jews to Auschwitz was screened. It was a wearisome program, squeezing out every possible cliche and mostly making terrible use of the horrible setting of the death camps. A German professor from the University of Heilbronn stuck out when he positioned himself near the photos of Jews murdered in gas chambers, and lamented before the Israeli camera how terrible it is that the Germans murdered people who looked just like them. The camera focused on his professionally pained face, and also captured the faces of the victims - without beards, payot (sidelocks) or skullcaps. After all, the majority arrived wearing payot, beards and skullcaps. And they lost them there. Here, the preoccupation with memory is extensive, but we understand little of the inherent violence in "not like us." Nor do we understand the role is of the "new Israeli," who looks almost like the German, in the "historical reconciliation" between executioners and victims. "Now we all look alike" and every thing is all right. Advertisement Western media, and also the Israeli, is feverishly dealing with the head covering of religious women in Turkey. Sometimes the fact is hidden that the secularists in Turkey, the successors of Kemal Ataturk, are opposed to Turkey joining the European Union because the West, which they adopted wholeheartedly as a model, is unwilling to accept the stringent secularism the Father of the Turks bequeathed to his children. Some of these laws - and not only the repression of the Kurdish minority - are contrary to civil rights. But in the case of the headlines in our media, press and television, it seems that the head scarves of Muslim women is a genuine threat to the future of the region. Reading the headlines here it seems that the right of religious women in Turkey to enter universities with their heads covered is a blow to Western englightenment. At times one is not certain whether this intense preoccupation is blind to Jewish life in Israel, or perhaps exactly the opposite - is trying to erase the Israeli street from our field of vision. Because head covering is commonplace in Judaism, and in the universities. On the other hand, in view of the excitement with which the Turkish decision is received, one wonders whether those excited here - those who shape the day's news - realize that the female head scarf is common to much of the region, Muslim and Jewish alike. Perhaps it is precisely this that is making the Turkish head scarves into an obsessive disorder. It is fair to assume that both these attitudes are found among us, one next to the other, with the help of forced closing of the eyes. It is reasonable to assume that some of the secular conceptulize to themselves that tolerance for the religious and their dress is considered a surrender to the 16th-century Catholic Church, let's say, and in the name of the 18th-century Englightenement, let's assume, they are willing to persecute a minority, whether it is the numerical majority, or a number only a few. Perhaps the Turkish scarf represents something else. Perhaps it enables us to imagine ourselves having a shared fate with some kind of white majority, not necessarily a secular one, because it also includes American fundamentalists who include Satan in every public and political issue. The obsession with head coverings deserves to be examined by the religious persons among us. How many among them see themselves on the "Western" side, concerned at the sight of women who cover their heads? We can only guess. It is fair to say that Israeli liberalism, which has always been very weak in anything having to do with the rights of genuine minorities, is largely not present here. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Google N for Nakba Israeli town sues Google over claim it was built on ruins of Palestinian village. A Belgian treat U.S. Jew says he was kicked out of a Bruges cafe because he was wearing a skullcap.   1.   Head coverings 12:09  |  Natallie Durson 11/02/08   2.   Coverings don`t bother me 15:10  |  David Olesker 11/02/08   3.   Head coverings 15:46  |  Cyasher 11/02/08   4.   Jewish Exclusivity 15:46  |  ARTH 11/02/08   5.   turkey is for muslims, u dont like ..get out! 16:26  |  turk 11/02/08   6.   ataturk= crypto-jew (fact!) 16:30  |  ottoman 11/02/08   7.   Headscarves 16:35  |  N 11/02/08   8.   Head coverigns 17:07  |  Ariana 11/02/08   9.   Head Scarves 17:46  |  Stephen Searfoss 11/02/08   10.   This isn`t an Israeli issue 18:38  |  Gili 11/02/08   11.   Only women wear scarves 18:40  |  Emma 11/02/08   12.   #5 you are right 21:35  |  Siad 11/02/08   13.   Muslim men dress modestly too 21:52  |  To Emma 11/02/08   14.   Islamic head scarf vs. Jewish kipa 22:09  |  David Israel 11/02/08   15.   Turk - Ne Mutlu Turkum Diyene 22:17  |  David Isarel 11/02/08   16.   How interesting that everything Muslims criticize Israel for 22:19  |  Genuine Tosefta 11/02/08   17.   ottoman - wrong in all counts 22:23  |  David Israel 11/02/08   18.   Head scarves and red roses 22:31  |  David Israel 11/02/08   19.   To # 5 - Turkey is for Muslims - Who said.....? 03:00  |  Dagma 12/02/08

Today Online Hamas leaders go underground as Israel plans targeted killings Responses: 329 U.S. Jew says kicked out of Belgian cafe for wearing kippah Responses: 234 Harel and Issacharoff: New Hamas tactic: Bomb Israel into truce Responses: 155 Hebron settlers, Arab clans said holding 'reconciliation talks' Responses: 81 More Headlines 01:03 Gaza, Iran on agenda as Olmert meets Merkel in Berlin 01:04 Ashkenazi: IDF ready to widen Gaza actions as much as needed 02:28 ANALYSIS: Hamas banks on IDF invasion to deliver final blow to Abbas 22:50 Palestinians: Two civilians wounded in IAF strike in southern Gaza 00:17 U.S. Congressman, Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos dies at 80 21:49 Israeli town sues Google over claim it was built on Arab village 02:45 Broker Ido Samuel has lost millions of other people's money 23:48 Police arrest five at Sderot residents' protest in Jerusalem 21:36 Shas: We'll quit government if peace talks continue amid terror 17:35 Think Clinton won the Jewish vote in California? Think again 21:58 Poll: 100,000 children in Israel have been sexually assaulted 19:22 Prosecutor: AG was right not to indict police for Oct. 2000 deaths 20:33 U.S. Defense Department seeks death penalty for six Sept. 11 suspects Previous Editions Select Day 11 feb 10 feb 08 feb 07 feb 06 feb 05 feb 04 feb 03 feb 01 feb 31 jan 30 jan 29 jan

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