﻿ Israelis rally against gender segregation | News | Al Jazeera

Israelis rally against gender segregation

Thousands protest near school where harassment of female student triggered dispute between Haredi Jews and secularists.








    'Unfair treatment'

    Al Jazeera's Cal Perry, reporting from Beit Shemesh, said protesters were demonstrating against "unfair treatment towards the Haredi population in Israel, which gets away with things that other members of the population cannot. People are saying things like 'Israel needs to wake up'.

    "There are about 5,000 people [gathered]. This is not a big city so it's certainly a big turnout."

    Israeli leaders especially encouraged people to attend the rally after comments by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, that "treatment of this eight-year-old girl is completely degrading to Israel's democracy".

    Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up more than
    10 per cent of Israel's population [Reuters]

    Naama's persecution has drawn new attention to the simmering issue of religious coercion in Israel, and the increasing brazenness by vigilantes from the insular ultra-Orthodox community.



    The new girls' school that Naama attends in the city of Beit Shemesh is on the border between an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood and a community of modern Orthodox Jewish residents, many of them American immigrants.

    The ultra-Orthodox consider the school an encroachment on their territory. Dozens of black-hatted men jeer and physically accost the girls almost daily, the students say.

    Televised images of Naama sobbing en route to school have shocked many Israelis, elicited statements of outrage from the country's leadership and sparked a Facebook page with nearly 10,000 followers dedicated to "protecting little Naama".

    "Who's afraid of an 8-year-old student?" Sunday's main headline in the leading Yediot Ahronot daily said.

    Modesty patrols




    Some Haredi Jews, however, consider even that outfit, standard in mainstream religious schools, to be immodest.

    "They want to push us out of Beit Shemesh. They want to take over the city."

    - Hadassa Margolese, Naama's mother

    This week Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, spoke out against the violence.




    Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up more than 10 per cent of Israel's population and are its fastest growing sector because of a high birth rate. In the past, they have generally confined their strict lifestyle to their own neighbourhoods.


    SOURCE: Al Jazeera and agencies


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