oh the lovely swish and whir, and let’s give Beitar illit to Gaza

The washing machine is fixed and I am in laundry heaven. The guy didn’t come, of course, until the very last moment of the day. We’re talking 4:30 when he was supposed be here between 8-11.

I’m voting we give Beitar Illit and all of the other places where we have crazy “morality police” running around throwing acid in little children’s faces because their sisters do not dress like they belong to the Taliban. This is the kind of crazy shit we point to and condemn and get to feel so holier than thou about with the crazy people in Hamas (yah know, the ones that like to blow up Internet cafes and movie and bookstores cos of the sinful influence and off a few christians while they are at it). Except now we’ve got the same kind of crazy mentality and goings-on right here in our Haredi neighbourhoods. Only this wasn’t even a Haredi neighbourhood but rather one that is mixed religious and secular people. People wonder why people are fleeing Jerusalem and surrounding areas for more normal kinds of places to live in this country –look no further.

So here’s my contribution to the peace process –let’s trade the Haredim (the crazy “morality police and woman get thee to the back of the bus” ones and those that don’t believe that our country should exist) and, if necessary, whatever buildings they and their 900 children to a family are occupying to the Palestinians. They’ll fit right in. And we, at least, will have some peace minus them.

And you know, the sad thing is is that Jerusalem and places like Beit Shemesh used to be normal places to live. When I made Aliyah I was seriously considering Jerusalem before my pilot trip. That is because I hadn’t been back to Jerusalem since the early 90s when it was still a normal, pretty hip and happening, place to live. You couldn’t pay me to live there now. It is changed beyond all recognition and not for the better.

But I tell you, this throwing acid on people, or bleach on their clothing, or throwing pregnant women off buses has got to stop. Where did these crazy people come from? Send them back!

Print article

This entry was posted by Yael on June 5, 2008 at 10:38 pm, and is filed under Uncategorized. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

Comments (18)

#1 written by lynne
about 2 years ago

There is no real difference between extremists, no matter what their particular brand of extremism is–it all comes down to the fact that these folks are mentally unbalanced/crazy—just sick. Their behavior should not be tolerated by sane individuals. Their should be consequences for their crazy behavior. It is disgusting.
#2 written by Judy
about 2 years ago

Yael, have you considered changing the word “Haredim” to “Muslims” in your post and thinking whether you would be happy referring to their “900 children” and headlining a post “let’s give (name of Israeli Arab neighbourhood) to Gaza? I can see you’re outraged by the criminal behaviour you report– but consider how many Haredim there are in Israel. Think about the proportion of people you are using to ascribe characteristics to a whole group. I’m sorry you don’t like Jerusalem. Last time I was there (June 2006) it felt like a beautiful, calm and enchanting place. I love Tel Aviv too. Your piece sounds all too much like the pieces I read in the sleazier end of the UK press about the way Muslims are “degrading” and running down London neighbourhoods.
#3 written by Nicole
about 2 years ago

Wikipedia says Beitar Illit was formed as a Haredi city, so if that is true, maybe they are just trying to keep the tone of their city to their standards (not that that excuses their behavior, but why would secular people want to live there…?)

From Wikipedia: “Beitar Illit was the first Haredi town to be established as such. The city’s ideology is based on the desire to have an exclusively Haredi environment.”
#4 written by lynne
about 2 years ago

If Beitar Illit was formed as a Haredi City, that is all well and good, but no matter what, should not other people be tolerated? Acts of terror against others are criminal acts. Nicole, you do make a good point though, considering the climate of intolerance there, why would secular people want to live there? However… thinking about my childhood in the US in the “Deep South”, I abhor acts of violence against minority groups or any groups of people. It is shameful.
Judy, perhaps Yael should what her tone. I think that these acts make people so emotional. Yes, I agree. She should watch her tone and choose her words more carefully.
When Yael and I went to Jerusalem, we were careful to dress very modestly in spite of the extremely hot weather, out of respect. I think that same respect for customs and traditions should be shown to all inhabitants when visiting their cities. However, I do not think it is ok for those same inhabitants to spit on and physically attack those whom they find “offensive”. It seems to be a matter of balance and mutual respect.
#5 written by Mac
about 2 years ago

I’ve noticed that anyone that is so polarized as to think that they are right without question, have drunk someone’s coolaid. If you think you have ALL the answers, you probably are a NUT! I don’t have all the answers, but I have morals that guide me. My morals guide me to not harm others unless they attack me in some way. I will defend, but not just go off and hurt people because I think they are wrong. Geez, people, grow up and think about your actions for ONCE!
#6 written by Katherine
about 2 years ago

helloo yaeli
so of course given that I live in Jerusalem I have to defend it! well not really. It is a crazy funny place but I do like that it is a whole lot more mixed than Tel Aviv. We lived near Tel Aviv for our first year here and I did not meet one single Arab person in that entire time. That is quite amazing – Arabs are a fifth of the population yet Tel Aviv is so non mixed that I didn’t meet one. And yes, in Jaffa, and in actual Tel Aviv I am sure there are some, but it was just quite interesting the contrast between my ulpan class in Jerusalem, and the one in Tel Aviv.
anyway apart from that I also was quite scared when we first came to live in Jerusalem – I thought I was gonna get spat on by some nutter Chareidi or similarly assaulted. Now I wouldn’t go running through Meah Shearim in shorts and a t shirt, but I do takes buses which go through Chareid areas including Meah Shearim, and I don’t dress differently when I do so, and I’ve never had any problems. We live in a secular neighbourhood which could be anywhere in Israel – you shouldn’t forget that those sorts of neighbourhoods do exist in Jerusalem – its not all chareidim and Arab areas – there are many many areas which are simply secular Israelis who you couldn’t pay them enough to convince them to move to Tel Aviv.
I reckon there are two types of people – Jerusalem people and Tel Aviv people And never the twain shall meet because both kinds feel absolutely suffocated and hate it when they go to the other city – I’d go so far as to say I have an allergy to Tel Aviv

hey and one last thing – we don’t have to search for hours and hours to park our car when we come home! so there!

now that I have brought the debate down to infantile levels I will take me leave
#7 written by Katherine
about 2 years ago

oh and Lynne the reason seculars might live in Beitar Illit is probably financial – the rent is probably a whole lot cheaper out there than it is in Jerusalem. A friend of mine lives in a settlement 20 minutes out ofjerusalem – she lives in a 2 or 3 bedroom house with 2 bathrooms and a garden – I think she pays 250 dollars a month or something silly like that. we live smack bang in Jerusalem and pay 3000 shekels – what was 700 dollars but is now 900 dollars – for 60 metres squared – i.e. a titchy place!
#8 written by Yael
about 2 years ago

The neighborhood this little girl lives in was designed specifically to be mixed. I don’t care whether she (and she was dressed perfectly reasonably for walking down any street in Jerusalem) or her older sister or anyone else walks completely naked down a street –there can be no excuse for throwing acid into someone’s face, least of all a child’s. (And it was not only her face, she was burned on her arms, stomach, and legs as well where it ate through her clothing). She could have been blinded. She may be scarred for life. And certainly she will be emotionally scarred for life.

I don’t care whether it was a Jew or a Muslim or a person from Mars who did this criminal act and I don’t care whether it is Jews or Muslims or whoevers who are oppressing women –this is not something to be allowed in our country. Nor should it be allowed in any country. But very definitely not in our country. There is no place for this kind of behaviour in our country or among civilized human beings. And yes, I do consider it to be worse when it is fellow Jews who behave like this because their behaviour is reflecting on me.
#9 written by lynne
about 2 years ago

Kat, you make good sense. Jerusalem is a beautiful city and it is unfair to characterize all the inhabitants as intolerant, religious fanatics.
This was a criminal act and I hope religious leaders will condemn it in the strongest possible terms and I hope that the perpetrators will be dealt with by the law.
#10 written by Katherine
about 2 years ago

whats funny is that we never seem to hear what happens to these acid throwers after they get caught – do they actually get punished appropriately? I would hope so.
another shocking case recently was the 16 year old bedouin girl who was circumcised and if that wasn’t bad enough landed up in hospital with complications after the fact.

This country is most definitely still a work in progress!
#11 written by Jack
about 2 years ago

This post is being included in the June 8 issue of Haveil Havalim.
#12 written by Korina Meza
about 2 years ago

It was really a horrible thing because the one who has throw the acid on little children’s face just because of no proper dress up must be an animal. And you are doing a great job by publishing such blogs.
#13 written by Ben-Yehudah
about 2 years ago

B”H

This incident in Beitar Elite was wrong, and should not have occurred.

However, what the leftist controlled media doesn’t want you to know is that the perpetrators were the extreme minority which cause problems for EVERYONE in Beitar.

She was not even dressed immodestly, just less modest for the liking of these few individuals taking the halacha into their own hands.

It was not a secular family and not a mixed neighborhood. Beitar is an entirely religious city.

I don’t know which is the greater “sin” to believe the leftist controlled media in Israel, and thus the constant flow of venom against the religious, or to pass it on in your blog.

Go back to where? Nazi Germany? Hungary where secular Jews connected with the Israeli gov’t were complicit in the mass murder of Hareidim?

Ben-Yehudah
Cat Lover, Writing from the Ancestral and current territory of Efraim
#14 written by Evan
about 2 years ago

Yael,
First off, I don’t think anyone is excusing throwing acid in someone’s face. I certainly wouldn’t. But this is Israel, and you have to learn to read between the lines. I’m not saying that this particular story is false, but the Israeli press is hardly somewhere to find a balanced account of life in Israel, especially as it relates to Judaism.
Do you remember when Maariv fabricated a story about the Cohen in Bnei Brak who supposedly had to divorce his wife because she was raped? Do you remember the story that Haaretz fabricated about the Hebron settler who allegedly beat and dragged a dead Arab through the streets? (Haaretz eventually lost the libel case brought against them, although they never retracted.)
If you were to read certain extreme religious papers, you would have the impression that all secular people are strung-out tatooed prostitutes. Might as well say, “Give Tel Aviv away to Gaza.”
I go to Tel Aviv from time to time for shabbat, and have been accosted going to shul by secular neighbors, trying to pick fights. My friend went at 2PM on Shabbat to learn with a friend and the neighbor barricaded the door let him enter. He was outraged that maybe a yeshivah would open up. I also have religious friends who have been spat upon walking the streets of Tel Aviv for dressing in destinctively Jewish clothing. But I don’t impugn all secular Israelis, and still maintain close friendships. Please don’t become yet another one of these TA anti-Jew bigots. You’re too smart for that.
#15 written by New Jerusalemite
about 2 years ago

Actually Jerusalem is still quite a hip and happening place. Check out areas like the German Colony or Baka, where there are lots of nice cafes and quite a mix of people, religious, secular, and everything in between. Plus there are all sorts of festivals and cultural things going on, like the Israel festival now, wine-tasting festival at the Israel Museum, etc. You wouldn’t be out of place at all! I mean, don’t go to Meah Shearim in a tank top, for those areas you’d have to dress according to their general standards. But no one would really care what you do/wear in the non-haredi neighborhoods, which are more than half of Jerusalem, and which are where the fun, hip stuff is happening anyway.
#16 written by Yael
about 2 years ago

My feelings and perception about Jerusalem have certainly been coloured by my own experience of being spat on and being called a whore about 30 steps away from the entrance to the central bus station because I’d removed the long-sleeved cardigan someone had just spilled coffee all over and was attempting to salvage the damage. I had a turtleneck gufiyah (tank top) on underneath the sweater (otherwise “religiously” attired) and that made me a whore and worthy of being spit upon. In a theoretically secular area. I was so thrilled to arrive at my meeting not only with coffee stains on my sweater but dried spittle on my face. I’ve never felt the same about Jerusalem since and avoid it when at all possible.
#17 written by Ben-Yehudah
about 2 years ago

B”H

This just in from my contact in Beitar from the Beitar mailing list:

“1st let me state that the versions sent out originally was based upon
what our boys were told by their Rebi-teachers in Talmud Torah.

Now my wife finally got to speak personally with the girls mother.
1] Yes the girls’ had been warned by the “Vaad tsiyuth” of dire actions
if they did not dress more properly.
2] Yes the injured girl was in the park & somebody threw acid or “00″ on
her face.
3] It was NOT a member of the “Vaad Tsniyuth” it was not even someone
religious at all. Apparently someone not from Betar.
4] It was apparently meant for her sister not her.
5] It may be due to a jilted love affair and the ex-boyfriend sent the
splasher to do it.
6] The police are investigating and only then it will be discovered if
it is that or a “mercenary” hired by the “Vaad”. The general feeling in
the girls family that it is likely as in #5.
7] She is much better by now. The eye has largely recovered, she sees
quite well, her lungs are basically alright, her face has skin lesions
from the substance but not severely eaten up, the rest of her body is
uninjured.

However she still needs prayers, both for recovery & for her & her
sister to do real full tshuvah.”

Sheds new light on the situation, no?

Gonna give the leftist controlled media a carte blanche again? I hope not.

Tonight we begin celebrating the giving of the Torah. The Torah is the ONLY justification Jews have for claiming that this land belongs to us, the ONLY justification.
#18 written by lynne
about 2 years ago

It seems that everyone here agrees on the most important points: The throwing of acid on the girl was a criminal act. The media is known to distort the “news”. Jerusalem is a diverse city with all kinds of people in it, tolerant and intolerant. It’s not a good idea to judge an entire group by the actions of a few individuals or a single incident ((Yaeli!). We all sincerely hope for the complete recovery of the poor unfortunate victim of this violence. It’s a good idea to observe the customs and traditions of those whom we visit when those customs differ from ours (When in Rome….).
No worries!