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Thousands demonstrate in Israel against religious extremism

27 December 2011 22:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. More than 10,000 Israelis protested Tuesday against religious fanaticism and discrimination of women, organizers said, after two days of rioting by ultra-Orthodox extremists near Jerusalem, APA reports.

"We won’t let it continue. No more," activists from pro-democracy and equality groups told the crowd, spanning the political spectrum, in Beit Shemesh, a town south-west of Jerusalem.

The protesters held up signs warning that a "red line" had been crossed, and "the silent majority is waking up."

Another, using Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname, compared the treatment of women among religious zealots in Israel to fundamentalist attitudes in Iran.

"Bibi, the Iranian bomb has already landed here," it said.

Beit Shemesh, where cheaper housing than in Jerusalem has drawn a large Orthodox population, has become the latest focal point of religious tensions in Israel.

The most recent spark was provided by a late Friday television item about ultra-Orthodox zealots in the town who are trying to force their lifestyle upon other residents, harassing those who do not conform.

The ultra-Orthodox code of conduct includes conservative dress and division of the sexes.

Friday’s news item showed an eight-year-old girl being spat upon by fanatics, who had decided she was not dressed modestly enough.

Na’ama Margolis, from a religious family of American Jewish immigrants, has developed symptoms of anxiety from the harassment she suffers daily as she walks to school.

Since Friday, many have come to see the girl as a national symbol against religious coercion, reacting with shock at the treatment of the schoolgirl, depicted in the broadcast. Tuesday’s rally was also intended as a show of support.

"We hope very much that our case will be a turning point for change," her mother, Hadassah Margolis, told reporters at the rally.

On Sunday, a Channel 2 television crew was attacked in Beit Shemesh when it came to shoot in the town.

At the time, dozens of ultra-Orthodox clashed with police, as they tried to remove a sign considered discriminatory, demanding that women do not congregate outside a synagogue.

More riots followed Monday, when ultra-Orthodox people burned garbage containers and threw stones and eggs at police and media crews. One policeman was lightly injured.

Two people were arrested on Sunday and five on Monday, Police Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told dpa.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, whose duties are largely ceremonial and who usually avoids taking a political stance, urged Israelis to attend Tuesday’s demonstration.

"Today is a test for the nation," he told reporters.

"All of us, religious, secular, traditional ... must as one man defend Israel’s character against a minority which breaks our national solidarity."

Netanyahu condemned ultra-Orthodox extremists who spit at or curse women for their dress or force gender separation upon them.

"Israel is a democratic, Western, liberal state. The public sphere is open and safe for everyone - men and women alike. There is no place for harassment or discrimination," he told his cabinet Sunday.

Netanyahu said he ordered police to enforce the law to the fullest, and local municipalities to take down signs ordering gender separation.

The controversial sign in Beit Shemesh requested women to "vacate" the sidewalk outside an ultra-Orthodox synagogue and cross to the other side of the street.

After police took it down Sunday, local rabbis have put up a new one stating, "women are asked not to linger at this location."

Israeli commentators have called Beit Shemesh a symbol of the struggle between religious and secular Israel.

Some are concerned about a radicalization of Israeli society. Israel’s religious population, which tends to have large families, is growing faster than the secular.

According to the latest Central Bureau of Statistics social survey, the ultra-Orthodox make up about 8 per cent of Israel’s adult Jewish population. Israelis who define themselves as secular have become a minority of 41 per cent.

Ultra-Orthodox leaders too have condemned attempts by the most fanatic within their community to impose their beliefs on others.

Last week, a secular Israeli woman drew headlines when she refused to give up her front seat for a religious man on a bus to Jerusalem, normally used almost exclusively by ultra-Orthodox passengers.