THOUSANDS OF Israelis rallied in the town of Beit Shemesh last night against attempts by Jewish ultra-Orthodox extremists to exclude women from public life.
The demonstration, held on the last night of the Jewish festival of Chanukah, was called after a weekend television report featuring a seven-year-old girl who was spat on and abused by radicals who claimed she was immodestly dressed. Signs had also been erected calling on men and women to use separate pavements.
Placards held by the mixed secular and religious crowd read “Ultra-Orthodox: Don’t spit in the well that feeds you” and “Bibi – the Iranian nuclear bomb has already fallen and it’s the Beit Shemesh Taliban”.
Orly Arzvan (18), a resident of the neighbourhood where the attack on the schoolgirl took place, told The Irish Times she wanted Beit Shemesh to return to what it once was.
“Before the ultra-Orthodox took over, everyone was together and you could walk down the street without fear. On Israel’s Independence Day they ripped the Israeli flag off our car and smashed the window. They are only a small minority but they’ve taken control.”
Nitzan Horowitz, a member of the Knesset parliament from the left-wing opposition Meretz party, told the crowd the character of Israel was in the balance.
“What is at stake is not a specific neighbourhood or segregated bus line, but the character of the state. Will Israel be an advanced, democratic country or a closed, backward society?
“In recent weeks, many of us feel that our country is committing suicide, that if things continue in this direction, there will not be a future here.”
Ahead of the rally, Beit Shemesh mayor Moshe Abutbul, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said the town condemned violence against women and called on the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
“Violent men belong behind bars. I urge the police to take a firm hand against all the rioters, and I call on the media not to label all the ultra-Orthodox in the same manner.”
Earlier, President Shimon Peres called for a large turnout at the demonstration, calling it a battle for the soul of the nation.
“All of us – religious, secular and traditional – must defend the image of the state of Israel against a minority that violates the national solidarity and expresses itself in infuriating fashion.
“Those who exclude women in the public sphere are not the masters of the land, but rather citizens of the state who must obey the law.
“Today is a test for which the entire country must be mobilised in order to save the majority from a small minority,” President Peres said.