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Haredi teargases woman for using 'men only' sidewalk | Ha'aretz | 27.10.09
An activist in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Eda Haredit community was conditionally released from prison Monday, a day after his arrest for allegedly spraying an ultra-Orthodox woman with tear gas in the capital's Mea She'arim neighborhood.

Yoel Kraus was arrested after the woman filed a police complaint. The alleged attack occured about two weeks ago, during the Sukkot holiday, as the woman was walking on a "men only" sidewalk, and refused Kraus' demand that she move to the women's side.

The woman did not require medical attention.  According to an agreement reached with the police, Kraus is to spend five days under house arrest at a location outside of Jerusalem and will not be allowed to return to the city for two weeks. He will then be prohibited from participating in public protests or public events for 30 days.

by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Tue Oct 27th, 2009 at 05:46:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Surely the fact that this can be considered only mildly troubling within Israel shows how much the strains of the occupation are causing disfigurement to the israeli public psyche far beyond the vioent derangements of its political sphere.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Oct 27th, 2009 at 06:19:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm not sure the occupation necessarily has anything to do with it. Religions tend to behave like this with no need for any other excuses. After all, Saudi Arabia and Iran haven't occupied anybody for centuries.
by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Tue Oct 27th, 2009 at 06:23:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Hmm, yes. Granted. But whilst Saudi has been  umm despotically corrupt for decades, Israel has really only been spiralling in on itself since the early 70s.

You can chart the descent.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Oct 27th, 2009 at 06:28:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, but other countries have occupied their neighbours without consequences like this. It's difficuly to separate the two, but I think the key point is not the occupation per se, but the fact that the occupation includes the holy sites, thus attracting the extreme religious to the country in the first place, and setting off all sorts of changes in the religion itself as it becomes more and more extreme. I think this development would have probably have taken place in a similar way, even if there had been no Palestinians there in the first place.
by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Tue Oct 27th, 2009 at 06:35:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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