some of the religiously insane are beating up women they deem unworthy

[ensho]

in Israel - yes Israel


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/21/israelandthepalestinians.middleeast1


Jewish 'ultras' defend morals with menaceThe Haredi sect has launched an aggressive campaign against the secular lifestyles of women in Jerusalem


Four months ago in the middle of the night, six men dressed in wide-brimmed black hats, black coats, white shirts and black trousers burst into the Jerusalem apartment of a young Jewish woman and taught her a lesson.

Mikhail, who is reluctant to give her full name, had scandalised members of her ultra-orthodox Jewish community by leaving her husband and embracing a secular lifestyle. The men, all members of the theologically conservative Haredi branch of Judaism, tackled her to the ground, slammed her head against the floor and tied a rag around her mouth. One assailant sat on her head as the others kicked her while demanding to know the names of the men she was seeing.

They also threatened to kill her if she did not leave the neighbourhood, which contains many secular as well as religious residents. 'A woman is only OK if she has a family, kids and a husband,' said Mikhail with a sigh.

Welcome to the new, increasingly orthodox, Jerusalem. The attack on Mikhail, although exceptionally brutal, was only the latest in a string of assaults over the past two years against Jewish women accused of immoral behaviour in the city

-snip-

'I was wearing jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt and as I was getting on the bus someone told me I couldn't get on the bus like that,' said Iris Yoffe who was travelling from Jerusalem to her parents' home in the northern city of Haifa. 'I ignored him and paid the driver.' But then, said Yoffe, two women blocked her way and told her to get off. 'When I refused they started yelling at me.'

According to Friedman, the growing intolerance is only likely to worsen. 'They've built an imaginary idealistic world where everyone is pious.' Increasingly, Jewish women in Jerusalem are required to conform to that vision.
------------------------------


wow

[gateley]

1. Wow is right. I think "piety" means living in rigid, inflexible fear. nt

[PDJane]

There is no difference between these groups

And the fundamentalists of any other stripe. It comes down to male privilege; control of women, control of children, and absolute control of their own imaginary world.

Mankind is not evolving.

[CTyankee]

2. My step daughter is in Israel now studying to be a rabbi.

I'm going to ask her about this...

[immoderate]

8. She might as well have a target painted on her.

Jewish fundies can rival any others. Hell, they invented it. A female rabbi -- that should set their juices flowing.

I grew up Jewish in a heavy Jewish neighborhood. On sabbath the orthodox would put up barriers so that no one could drive or ride a bicycle on the streets where they lived. This was in NYC.

--IMM

[The Stranger]

3. Yep, Fundamentalism and religious nuts are a problem.

There is a struggle going on world-wide for the very conscience of human kind.

Will the Enlightenment be relegated to a lost epoch of history?

[DS1]

4. I'd be willing to be King-nutcase if it meant eradicating the world of religious nutcases

[ensho]

5. its sad that all threads Israeli must go to the sub-basement

nt

[Dorian Gray]

6. That's awful

I hope that the assailants were arrested. Horrible!

[immoderate]

9. I doubt that's going to happen.

They have god on their side.

--IMM

[mimitabby]

7. sigh...

n/t

[barbtries]

10. fundamentalism sucks

i don't care if it's christian, jewish or muslim. and it seems that it especially sucks for women. in fact it seems as if fundamentalism in all three religions is pretty much devoted to dehumanizing and enslaving women.

i am a product of my upbringing, but i cannot fathom these actions.