Netanyahu gets to play Superman in case of 7-year-old harassed by orthodox Jews

While westerners were in the throes of holiday celebrations last weekend, Israel was immersed in a flurry of concern over a news broadcast that aired on Channel 2 Friday night about Naama Margolese, a 7 year old girl in the town of Beit Shemesh, who is afraid of walking to school for fear of being harassed by orthodox Jews in her community. The story was complete with dramatic soundtrack and a deeply concerned parental voice narrating. News travels fast:

LA Times:

[T]hese days many see it as a dark place where religious extremists defy authorities, intimidate children and attack the press. Trouble brewed for months before intensifying when a little girl caught everyone’s attention on prime-time television news.

No worries, Netanyahu to the rescue. The Forward

Unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who clearly sensed where the political winds were blowing, went on a public relations push over the weekend to show he was taking action. Ynet reported that he “asked Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Saturday to instruct the police to act firmly against violent attacks targeting women in the public sphere.” 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.’

Wait, did anyone mention that the Housing Ministry is building more and more exclusive communities for the religious segment of Israel’s society?  If Netanyahu is so concerned about civil liberties, what’s he doing about the draconian racist legislation passed by the Knesset this year that includes neighborhood purity committees designed to preserve segregated neighborhoods? Isn’t this his governing coalition? According to this excellent article in Haaretz today by Nurit Elstein, “there is widespread support for restricting civil rights“.

Such developments in the history of political thought provided inspiration for the totalitarian state………Politicians do not operate in a vacuum. They are well aware of the public’s mood. Any public-opinion survey will find that there is widespread support for restricting civil rights. Public discourse is fraught with extremist statements denouncing Arabs, leftists and others. Knesset legislation converts cultural trends into legal norms.

…A government that views a minority’s opinion as a nuisance that must be silenced, and criticism of the state as something akin to treason, is headed toward totalitarianism.

When Israel’s cultural Petri dish yields such bills, some of which will become law, it can only mean that there is a real potential for fascism in this country, enacted by its majority. Recognition of this possibility must guide the behavior of the minority.

Of course, none of this is new to us. Not the rise of extremism in Israel’s society. Not the growth of the Ultra Orthodox community, or of the racist settler community, nor the National Religious Party, and all with influence in the government. Lest we forget, Noam Sheizaf at 972, The myth of “Good Israel” vs. “Bad Israel”:

The Israeli middle class, the good ole’ boys, are the ones supporting the racist bills in the Knesset and the anti-democratic initiatives. In other words, we always had Rabbis like Shmuel Eliyahu and members of Knesset like Kahane’s student Michael Ben-Ari. The difference is that now, we have Kadima and Likud backing them.

Just like the settlements couldn’t have been built without the active support and participation of the Israeli center-left (including Labor party, which started the whole thing back in the 70′s), the current torrent of racist bills couldn’t have come without the help of Kadima, Labor and Likud members. And with all the ridiculous, xenophobic and undemocratic ideas they came up with, their public can’t get enough. When it comes to questions of human rights and democracy, there is no coalition and opposition in the Knesset: Almost everyone is on the same side.

So why now you might ask? Why the widespread MSM coverage today over previously documented social issues plaguing Israel’s society for a long time?  The Forward claimed  “the government took action only after the media paid attention to Beit Shemesh” but that’s not entirely true. The media covered another incident outside this same school in September, and so did we.

I think the Powers that be are concerned that the image of Israel’s ‘democracy’ is alarming western supporters, and this is their way of combating that image. So, we are being treated to a media blitz of the PM coming to the rescue of little Naama. As Noam would say, the ‘good vs the bad’ in Israel’s society. It’s another ‘look over there’ moment, when anti democratic legislation is supported by the majority of Israel’s society! You don’t believe me? Listen to Jessica Montell, Executive Director of B’Tselem: ‘The political climate in Israel is more hostile than ever’. While funding for NGOs championing human right’s in Israel and Palestine are threatened with being silenced.

I think Israeli society is concerned too, and I do not intend to diminish that concern, but where are the resources invested to combat these problems? The end of the video mentions the website of the person who translated the dialogue into English.

The comment section is revealing:

Tzirel says:
December 25, 2011 at 9:36 PM

Not only are politics involved, but the police themselves are greatly intimidated and fear to go too far into the areas that where the kitzonim live. These are the same people that rampage and set dumpsters on fire. I have a former neighbor whose arm was broken by members of this group when he tried to come to the aid of a policeman who was being brutally beaten by this group. The policeman ended up in the hospital with head injuries…

We really, really need Mashiach. Not that I want any enemies, but it’s so much easier when your enemies are not your brothers…

For when your “enemies are not your brothers” they are allowed to run wild tormenting Palestinians. Israel’s resources would be better spent transferring their ‘security personnel’ towards policing domestic Jewish criminals.

And while our MSM offers up a good Bibi today (defender of human rights), they continue to pile the table with the usual feast of scare tactics and propaganda: 

One official was quoted as saying Abbas was paving the way for Hamas and Islamic Jihad to take control not only over the PLO, but the entire West Bank as well.

Divert, divert, divert.

For those of you who didn’t make it all the way thru the video, if you fast forward to to 8:20 you can hear a woman lament,  ‘A little Iran is developing here’.

(Hat tip Joseph Dana)