Eight-year-old girl sparks a backlash against Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel

SPAT upon and branded a “slut” for dressing “immodestly”, Na’ama Margolese has become a national heroine following her recent appearance on TV, in which she and her mum spoke of the harassment they suffered at the hands of Jewish extremists in the Israeli town of Beth Shemeth.

More than that, Prime Minister Netanyahu – according to this report – has now promised to clamp down on “radical groups” seeking to banish women from the public sphere.

Netanyahu also asked Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to see to it that laws preventing the exclusion of women are upheld by local authorities.

The Sisterhood blog reported that Na’ama told TV audiences of her fears while walking the short distance from her home to Orot Banot school, after numerous occasions when she was cursed at and even once spat on by the Haredi demonstrators.

Israeli viewers watched as her mother, Hadassah, holding her hand, tried to convince her to make the short walk as she cried, whined and protested; it’s a ritual they go through every school day.

To the residents of Beit Shemesh the story of Beit Shemesh and the intimidation of Orot Banot girls is nothing new, said The Sisterhood

But until now, the public had remained relatively indifferent to the trials the school girls and the residents of Beit Shemesh were undergoing.

Members of an extremist Haredi group that have settled there over the past several years have been pushing for the creation of gender-segregated bus lines, designating parts of the city where women and men were directed to separate on public streets, and harassing the girls of Orot Banot on the ground that they did not dress modestly enough.

Last week, the extremists caused outrage when they dressed in Nazi concentration camp gear to make the point that opposition to their gender separation ideology was tantamount to persecution.

Immediately after Na’ama appeared on Channel 2, Facebook groups were organised and demonstrations in Beit Shemesh planned by angry citizens who wanted to take action. The power of the press had truly flexed its muscles. (The extremists were clearly aware of the damage done to them by the television coverage, as they demonstrated when they attacked the reporter when he returned to Beit Shemesh on Sunday for a follow-up story.)

In the aftermath of the Channel 2 story and the reaction, the ultra-Orthodox mayor of Beit Shemesh ordered workers to take down street signs that directed women to cross the street and “not linger” in front of a synagogue. As they did so, Haredim threw rocks and called the municipal workers ‘Nazis.’

The Sisterhood commented:

The fact that the government took action only after the media paid attention to Beit Shemesh is infuriating. The girls of Orot Banot have been under siege since school opened in SeptemberThey deserved firm action and government protection long ago: Na’ama should never have had to be terrified in the first place.

On Friday, hundreds of women gathered in Tel Aviv to protest against religious zealots wanting gender apartheid. Among them was Adina Bar Shalom, daughter of the Shas’ spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. She said:

The Torah elevates women. It holds women in the highest esteem … This isn’t about which door we board the bus from. It’s about women’s honour. Women are powerful, if is wasn’t for us, men couldn’t afford to study the Torah.

Hat tip: Adam Tjaavk