Tel-Chai Nation

Beit Shemesh resident Nili Phillip wrote about her legal battle to get the city's Haredi mayor and his staff to remove signs demanding women dress modestly according to Haredi standards that have led to violence in the Ramat Beit Shemesh area. And she reveals an eyebrow raiser about the municipal director, Matti Huta:

For the record, Mr. Huta is a licensed attorney, and judging by his knitted kipa, would be identified as modern orthodox, and this underscore the depth of the problem. It would be convenient to blame a handful of extremists for such chauvinistic behavior. Unfortunately it would be wrong. Too many mainstream Israelis are complacent when it comes to violations against women, and more than happily capitulate to extremist demands to further their own political and financial interests. It’s our hope that this lawsuit is a step forward in solving this problem, by conveying to Mr. Huta that insensitivity towards women is expensive.

Ah, this reminds me of Shalom Lamm, the "modern" Orthodox real estate developer who's helping the Satmar with a building project in Kiryas Joel, their enclave in Monsey, New York. Huta should be ashamed of himself for taking part in discrimination and failure to heed court rulings, and does not deserve his job.

On a brighter side, positive change is occurring. Following a horrendous assault on a young mother standing at a bus stop with her toddler this past April, local Haredi residents turned in the perpetrator to the police where he is still under arrest. Additionally, for the first time and in response to our pressure, the mayor issued a condemnation of the attack in the local Hebrew Haredi newspaper. Our next step is to push for the placement of security cameras in areas known to be problematic so that violators can be identified and convicted.

Those Haredi residents who helped nail the culprit did the right thing. It's always possible for such a monster to turn against his fellow Haredis just as much as a non-Haredi, and people like him can pose a danger to their own just as much as outsiders. What's actually offensive is the Kitty Genovese mentality that's often been prevalent in many Haredi communities, and that's something that has to change.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, misogyny, Moonbattery, political corruption