Intimidating protest highlight Israeli religious divide

[ShockediSay]

The end of the school day at the Orot Girl's Elementary ought to be an oasis of peace in the family day - a chance for mothers and daughters to chat over teachers and lessons and who-said-what-to-whom.

But from the beginning of the current term a grim and disturbing drama has been played out instead in the busy street outside the school gates in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh.

As the children and their mothers make their way home, intimidating pickets of ultra-orthodox Jewish men have been waiting for them a little way up the street - some, say the families, have thrown stones and tomatoes and faeces as they have tried to pass.


Ultra-orthodox protesters say the school children are "defiling" their neighbourhood At the peak of the protests the scenes were shocking and intimidating, with a baying cacophony of shouted insults reaching a climax as the small family groups tried to find a way along the pavement....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15239538

[dtexdem]

1. Jewish Fred Phelpses.

nuff said

[Jefferson23]

2. No, I don't think so..they have their own brand of crazy..where as the

adults in this group are throwing stones and feces in some cases and the prospect of this version of
ultra orthodox seems to be growing. Phleps to the best of my knowledge, they are attorneys and there are no acts
of violence..their message of hate is protected but if they were to engage in this behavior, that would be very different
under the law.

"The ultra-orthodox community, which has a high birth rate, is growing rapidly. It accounts for just under 10% of the Israeli population at the moment - a proportion that is likely to double within 20 years.

And that matters because the community has come to be seen by many other Israelis as something of a burden on their economy - many ultra-orthodox men live on welfare, preferring to spend their time in prayerful contemplation of scripture rather than more conventional forms of employment."

Fred's group is not growing, not in these proportions anyway...his sick family seems to be about it. I often wondered
why the law couldn't get him on child abuse, one of his son's had claimed as such.

As for these men in this OP, I would hope the Israeli authorities would intervene.

[Xithras]

3. Great. Jewish Taliban.

These nuts exist in every religion, and should be stamped out wherever they are found. Everyone has a right to believe however they want, but when your beliefs progress from simple words to assaulting women and children in order to force your beliefs on others, your right to practice them should be brought to a rapid and forceful end. Every one of these people should be sitting in a prison cell.