Woman beaten on Jerusalem bus for refusing to move to rear seat

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"A woman who reported a vicious attack by an ad-hoc "modesty patrol" on a Jerusalem bus last month is now lining up support for her case and may be included in a petition to the High Court of Justice over the legality of sex-segregated buses.

Miriam Shear says she was traveling to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City early on November 24 when a group of ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men attacked her for refusing to move to the back of the Egged No. 2 bus. She is now in touch with several legal advocacy and women's organizations, and at the same time, waiting for the police to apprehend her attackers.

In her first interview since the incident, Shear says that on the bus three weeks ago, she was slapped, kicked, punched and pushed by a group of men who demanded that she sit in the back of the bus with the other women. The bus driver, in response to a media inquiry, denied that violence was used against her, but Shear's account has been substantiated by an unrelated eyewitness on the bus who confirmed that she sustained an unprovoked "severe beating."

more


Like the Taliban

<snip>

"Miriam Shear insists that she is not out to get the ultra-Orthodox community, but only the more extreme and violent elements among them.

"I feel like by going public, we can prevent this. We can expose it and clean it up. These people were like the Taliban and I make this comparison without hesitation. They are violent and intimidate people ... using religion to justify their fanaticism. I have no problem with mehadrin buses, but that doesn't mean that these people can trample on the rights, safety and dignity of other people.

"I want there to be shame and shock among the leaders of the Haredi community," she added. "They painstakingly teach about laws of kashrut and family purity, but I want them, with the same passion and intensity, to sit with these people and explain that this is not the way to behave."

Supporters, meanwhile, are hailing her as the Rosa Parks of the Haredi community. Parks, the African-American civil rights activist, was arrested in 1955 after she refused to give her seat to a white passenger, an act of civil disobedience that triggered the Montgomery bus boycott and is considered a watershed moment in the struggle against racial segregation. But Shear discourages such comparisons.

Although she did not seek medical attention following the attack, Shear says that her face swelled soon after and that there was an outline of her attacker's shoe on her right cheek. "At the time of the kick, I felt no pain - only rage," she wrote in the widely distributed e-mail."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=Miriam+Shear&itemNo=801459

[denverbill]

1. Ahhh, fundamentalists. They're the same whether they are Jews, Muslims, or Christians.

Can't we just ship them all off to one country to kill each other and leave the rest of us alone in peace.

[IndianaGreen]

3. They are all equally misogynist and homophobic

and a threat to the security of this planet!

[Cassandra]

5. My thoughts exactly.

Let's ship them all to some desert area (Death Valley, the Sahara, etc.) and let them fight it out with each other and fertilize the earth where they fall.

[Mist]

2. Why do some men feel practicing their religion relies on treating women like shit? nt

[IndianaGreen]

4. Because they are latent homosexuals that prefer each other's company

so they dance with one another, but dare not even shake hands with a woman.

This is what you get with patriarchal religions!

[valerief]

6. Someone tell me again how religion is soooo spiritual and fulfilling.

No offense intended to peaceful and rational religious people.

My point is that it doesn't seem to work for all people.

[BushOut06]

7. If these were Muslim men, it would be huge news

People like Rush and Glenn Beck would be trumpeting this all over the place if it involved extremist Muslim men. Yet, somehow, I doubt we'll hear nary a peep from them about this incident.

[msmcghee]

8. Why are your guesses about what some American wingnut's response . .

. . might be about extremist Muslim men relevant to this thread? The thread is about Jewish religious zealots and their treatment of an Israeli women on Israeli public transportation.

I think the behavior of these Jewish religious zealots is disgusting and I hope there is some way for that woman to get some justice in the courts. I can't imagine why the jerks were not arrested and I don't know why the bus driver was not fired for allowing such a thing to happen.

I'm not sure what the relevance of this thread is to I/P - but threads like this usually get posted a few minutes after someone posts a thread that is critical of some Arab notable or some Arab policy - like the thread about the Al Jazeera editor. But, we expect that and the mods don't seem to mind.

Your indignation at the horrible unfairness of it all - has simply reminded everyone that extremist Muslim men on Jewish buses usually have more ominous activities in mind than slapping around Jewish women for where they sit.

[IndianaGreen]

11. If it had happened in Iran, we would be hearing more calls for war

from the same sleaze balls that called for war on Iraq.

[cali]

13. Bullshit.

They hang men for the "crime" of being gay in Iran, but you will NEVER here wingnuts citing that as a reason for invading. Hell, they don't even give a shit about the stoning to death of a woman for having been raped.

[Poll_Blind]

9. Some comments...

  I had read about these when they first came out at the beginning of this month, but I couldn't remember the word "mehadrin". This isn't the exact story I read, but it's from around the same time and goes into a little background of the "mehadrin" lines. I had wanted to post about the similarities betweed Egged acquiescing and El-Al in a showdown with Haredim (not to have flights on the Sabbath) and a possible boycott.

  Anyway, I scanned the responses and people have pretty much said what I would say but one thing that I don't think got touched on is how incredibly disrespectful it is to pull a Jew's kippah/snood off their head. I've read about Jewish kids having to put up with "Kippah-keep-away" when they're at grade school in the Diaspora but for adults, especially Orthodox Jewish adults, to pull a woman's snood off her head is a deeply insulting and intolerant thing. The symbolism in that act is very, very hurtful.

  And on top of that, not to give it back. That's really fucked up.

  If that was done in the Diaspora, even out of ignorance of the kippah/snood's symbolism, the story would rightly be labelled as an anti-Semitic attack.

  What is it when Haredim do it? Pro-Semitism, in cognito?

PB

[msmcghee]

10. Actually, in either case it's called . .

. . a cowardly insult.

It could be and may likely be motivated by antisemitism if a non-Jew did it.

When a Jew does it as in this case, it is more likely a personal insult, and a statement that (they believe) she doesn't deserve to wear an article of Jewish identity.

Are you suggesting that since Jewish men did this that people shouldn't complain about actual antisemitism - as when non-Jewish men might do something similar?

Maybe you could make your point clearer.

PS - I have no idea what a snood or a kippah is - but it apparently is an article of Jewish identity.

[Poll_Blind]

12. You're probably more familiar with the term "Yarmulke". You're...

...right that it is "an article of Jewish identity" but the significance of wearing a head covering in the Orthodox Jewish faith goes beyond that. I'll use the word "Yarmulke" both because it's more common in the Diaspora but also because of the etymology of the word which explains its significance. Wiki has a decent write-up (this is under Kippah), with this relevant excerpt(though the etymology is unsurprisingly disputed):

The word Yarmulke is a Yiddish word. It comes from the Aramaic phrase "Yari Malka", meaning, "Fear of the King". This implies that one wearing a yarmulke should fear "the King", meaning God.

  Observant Jews, but especially Orthodox Jews, wear head coverings to show that they fear and respect their creator. To take this head covering off of another Jew is to say "You do not respect the creator", "You are impious". Orthodox Judaism is very strict and practitioners take a their fear/respect of their creator very seriously. For a group of Orthodox men to rip off a woman's snood (the name for a female's head covering) is to say they pass judgment on her faithfulness as a Jew, period.

  Like a little, informal, halachic ruling with some assholes right there on the bus.

  I'm starting to wonder if a Rabbi was the one to pull it off. To pass judgment on another Jew like that, even in the very extreme black and white world of Orthodox Jewry, would not be something I would normally expect. Then again, Orthodox Jewry, like Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Islam has more than their unfair share of misogyny and patriarchal control issues. And homophobia. And xenophobia. But I digress...

  In regards to your question "Are you suggesting that since Jewish men did this that people shouldn't complain about actual antisemitism - as when non-Jewish men might do something similar?", I have no idea what kind of glasses you're reading my previous post with but they'll be the same glasses you read this one with so I'm not going to bother. The most time I'm going to spend addressing that specific question is to ask you to read my previous post a little more carefully.

PB

[msmcghee]

14. Sorry if I misconstrued . .

Starting at your bold text, which most people use to emphasize the important part of their post, you said,

" If that was done in the Diaspora, even out of ignorance of the kippah/snood's symbolism, the story would rightly be labelled as an anti-Semitic attack.

What is it when Haredim do it? Pro-Semitism, in cognito?"

I've now re-read your post a few times and thought about it.

It seems to be sarcasm. I know sarcasm doesn't translate well in this format but I just can't figure it out.

Maybe everyone else gets it and I'm just dense - but I would appreciate a hint - even if it's just in a PM.

[eyl]

15. Just a clarification

the yarmulke is worn only by men; in the case of women, they wear head coverings if they're married.