With the demonstrators / Did we grow up here?
'The real story is that we have been conquered by the ultra-Orthodox by virtue of an agreement that Bibi Netanyahu made with them,' says a secular woman protester.
By Neri Livneh Tags: Orthodox Jews Israel protestVeteran residents of Beit Shemesh, once a secular-traditional city on the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, who see their city subject to the threats of the extreme ultra-Orthodox, have been feeling for quite some time now that someone - the government, the media, other people - have forgotten them. "The real story is that we have been conquered by the ultra-Orthodox by virtue of an agreement that [Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu made with them," said a secular woman protester at Tuesday night's demonstration.
She was born in Beit Shemesh and raised her children there, but says she has been having a hard time recently recognizing the city in which she grew up.
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Protest against women's exclusion in Beit Shemesh, Dec. 27, 2011. |
| Photo by: Michal Fattal |
The demonstration took place in the square below the Orot Banot school. It was on the road to that school that 8-year-old Na'ama Margolese was attacked by ultra-Orthodox extremists.
That 8-year-old can be credited with the belated uprising of the residents of Beit Shemesh, both religious and secular, against the increasingly swift ultra-Orthodox takeover of their city. For this reason alone, perhaps we should be happy about the spitting incident that made Na'ama a symbol of everything that's been happening in Beit Shemesh, especially in Ramat Beit Shemesh, a huge neighborhood built originally to house the secular, then becoming mixed and then, a few years ago, being taken over by ultra-Orthodox extremists.
"Some of them were thrown out of Mea She'arim for being bullies and criminals," said Gila Pelos, a self-defined "Orthodox religious woman," who lives in the Nofei Aviv neighborhood right below Ramat Beit Shemesh.
Pelos, whose sons go to the Orot Banim school and have had stones thrown at them, has joined the parents' patrol to protect the children from the Orthodox schools from the spitting and stone-throwing of the ultra-Orthodox extremists.
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Most of the participants in last night's protest were from Beit Shemesh. Among them were Esther and Aharon, an ultra-Orthodox couple from Ramat Beit Shemesh who said "violence has to be dealt with, because we came to Beit Shemesh to live a liberal life, although we are Haredim [ultra-Orthodox]. If things keep up this way, in 10 years we'll leave, too," Aharon said.
Also among the protesters was Asher Gold, chairman of the ultra-Orthodox students association, who said he was there to "represent the Haredi public, most of whom are very opposed to these extremists."
Two secular women stopped me to say that when they go for a walk at night, they take a big rock and sometimes a knife, to be on the safe side. "This isn't the city I grew up in," one said, who came back here to live after 30 years in Tel Aviv."
If there is anyone the city's residents who came to the rally can find to blame for the situation, it is the mayor, Moshe Abutbul. They say for years he did not hear their complaints about attacks on women by the increasing numbers of ultra-Orthodox. According to Tzion Sultan, a local social activist, Abutbul wants to make secular people and the moderately religious leave the city, and 7,500 people have done precisely that over the past four years.
Cooperation between Abutbul, the ultra-Orthodox Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Atias and the prime minister have led to the fact that out of 30,000 housing units soon to be built in the city, only 2,000 are earmarked for secular or moderate Orthodox people, Sultan says.
The question is how long will it take us to forget about Beit Shemesh and leave its secular and moderate Orthodox residents, which still make up 65 percent of the city's population, to the ultra-Orthodox extremists and the municipality that cooperates with them.
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Divide and rule. Divide Beit Shemesh and there is the recipe to divide the whole country . Then we will have a religious autonomy and a secular autonomy .Untill the day that the religious with their baby manufacturing capacity will totally oust non-orthodox Jews from Israel. IS THIS THE MISERABLE FUTURE ?
When the asault upon an 8 yar old becomes a top feature story in a Gainesville Fl. newspapar it is time for the Israeli Governmewnt to step in and apply the law to these animals. Shame on you for allowing this and other violence to continue. These animals are tearingg Israel apart. Isrelcannot afford to los American support.
these people need to wake up and join the 21st century and admit defeat!
People now seem to be just religious enough to hate but not religious enough to love. God will turn his back on them
Secular and decent religious Israelis have a powerful tool....use your votes to throw these guys out of office.
The new Iran of the middle east The vast majority of normal decent people being subjegated by a minority of religious nutters and right wing whackjobs. All courted by the Politicians who need their votes. You couldn't make it up
Open a casino with table-top dancers and bunny girls at beit Shemesh.
Talk about a crime Jews turning on Jews, but yet they make out to the rest of the world to be the "Victims" when in fact they alone insite the turmoil in the Middle East. Go pray to the wall and may it fall on you
Total strangers should not be able to tell adult women what they can do and cannot do. They should not attack girls. Anyone who does not understand that is too stupid to have a part in the political process, much less have a favored position in it. It is time to put a stop to it.
Thanks to Clinton passing the insidious RLUIPA law, the Ultra-Relgious can do whatever they want and ignore laws that were in place for over 200 years. Come to Rcokland and Orange Counties and see why our taxes have gone up 30%. We have to support these parasites who demand everything and contribute nothing...except for votes!
I am no haredim backer. I only back their rights as citizens. I do not know your tax system but do not all of a sudden blame a tax rise on one group of people.
What? Why is this news in the USA?
is supporting this state with our taxpayer dollars. We deserve to see how it's wasted.
I am sorry to say all is lost. The Haridim are determined to take over the city, to this end yesterday they were out in force in their cars clogging the roads so that protesters could not reach the rally. Those who oppose them are not united in one front and do not have the determination, which means making sacrifices and a huge effort.to confront them. Unfortunately it is the government's responsibility, they give them money to do nothing, do not collect the taxes, do not enforce the law, they just leave them to do as they please and we have seen the results.
This is exactly the situation. I couldn't agree with you more. I would go even further then this. These people are not only determined to take over Beit Shemesh, they want the country as a whole. Quotation from a Haredi being interviewed last week: "Not just Beit Shemesh, all of Israel will be ultra orthodox - and nothing will help you. The country at the end will be an ultra orthodox country , whether you want it or not !! " THAT SAYS IT ALL . With the reproduction rate of the Haredi they will reach their goal within 2 generations , which in their case means less then 40 years. And they will reach it very democratically by election. Just like Hamas in Gaza.
We have a growing haredim community in Montreal. They live in homes. The homes have a tax value. The taxes are paid. There is no avoiding taxes. Yes they do not mingle well with other less religious or secular Jews but who cares. As long as they keep the laws of the land and not just the laws of Talmud.
These "men" who dress like sissies nd with funny long hair are actually acting out their own sexual repressions when they spit on an 8-year-old girl in a modest dress, and call her a whore. If they read Fred they would blush at their behavior, but these sorts don't read Freud, only their Holy Scripts it seems. That's where ignorance gets you. It shows neither manliness, humanity or Godliness to spit on an 8-year-old girl.
That says it all. Israel is not a democracy and should no longer be referred to as such. It is a theocratic dictatorship no different than the rest of the Arab Muslim countries around. As such, there is no longer any reason to make Aliyah there, and I am scratching it off my list. Obviously this is the tendency the nation is heading towads: as the article states, bullies and criminals. Mazel Tov, what a waste.
Herein - lies much of the problem -- "Veteran residents of Beit Shemesh, once a secular-traditional city on the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,.....". Maybe - if the SECULAR - recognized the reason for Israels existence - is the TORAH COVENANT AND LAWS. THEN - they actually put them into practice. PRAY for the CORRECT RESOLUTION. Maybe - G-D - would remember us - and show us the true way to live together.
Where in the Bible does it say to be violent??? You have it all wrong. Then it is not a democracy. It is a state of coercion. Howdoes it say in the Torah to call an eigh-year old girl going to school a "whore" ??? This is shameful and base on the part of those so-called Haredim who certainly are not trembling before G-d. More likely, Hashem's "blood" is boiling because of them.
No way. The state is the state and the church is the church. The state works to protect the people from radicals in church.
As sex offenders!
They are fighting for God's law. Your opinion has nothing to do with it.
These religious freaks are demonstrating exactly the same rational ideas as saudia arabia and Iran. Those who believe 3000 year old books on how to run your life today are relevant are kidding. The Mid-east hatred just goes on and on and on.
They are fighting for God's law AS THEY DEFINE IT. Would you extend the same courtesy to people who define God's law as saying God says all Jews should be driven from their community?
If anyone should wonder what the value of a liberal arts degree is, one should consider that it helps rid the world of the Talibans and the Thomases.
or mandating sidewalks for male or female. There were no sidewalks mentioned in the Talmud. These religious zealots cannot interpret the Talmud to suit their ideologies.