The
focal point was a black cloth with simple white chalk Hebrew letters
spelling out “Ali Saad Dawabsheh” and “Shira Banki,” the Palestinian toddler burned to death in his West Bank home and the 16-year-old Jewish girl fatally stabbed at a gay pride march in Jerusalem.
The back-to-back attacks a week ago, attributed to religious fanatics,
set off a national outcry and reflection, with hundreds flocking here
each night for a mixture of mourning and protest. [...]
This is a time of deep questioning across Israel, after two deaths that underscored both the endless conflict with the Palestinians
and its own internal struggle to balance a rising religiosity with
civil rights. Have government policies and rabbinical authorities
inspired or at least allowed a radical fringe to reach new depths of
depravity? Who interprets Jewish law and Jewish values for the Jewish
state? How did it come to this? [...]
For days now, there has been an outpouring of outrage: Israel’s chief
rabbis published a newspaper ad declaring, “Violence is not the way of
our holy Torah.” Sheikhs and rabbis, as well as politicians from
opposing camps, made joint pilgrimages to visit Ali’s badly burned
mother and 4-year-old brother in the hospital. Security forces have also
reinvigorated their pursuit of right-wing radicals.
There
has also been a backlash. The leader of a group that harasses gays and
Jewish-Arab couples was recorded declaring that “churches must be
burned.” Posters honoring the man arrested after stabbing six people at
the pride march — “We pray that all of God’s nation were as filled with
awe as you” — appeared in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, where many
consider homosexuality an affront to God. Death threats against the
right-wing leaders who vowed vengeance against the arsonists have been
posted on social media sites.
And
there has been blame. Palestinians and leftist Israelis argue that
Israel’s nearly half-century occupation of the West Bank and impunity
for settler vandals inevitably led to Friday’s firebombing of the
Dawabsheh home. Gay rights advocates cannot understand how the police
failed to stop the man accused in the knife attacks, Yishai Schissel,
who had recently been released from prison for a similar attack at the
2005 pride march and had declared his intention to repeat it. [...]
Well it is assur to kill someone for marching in the pride parade, although a vigorous protest was in order, in including in Tel Aviv.
ReplyDeletePeople seem to forget why they are protesting and who they are protesting.
ReplyDeleteThere was a protest against the new Yes Planet theater in Jerusalem because it is going to be open on shabbat. But the thing is that the theater is to be built on private land with private funding and private ownership. What is the City Council supposed to do about it? Keep in mind, this was the same answer when a religious French Jew bought property which had a non kosher restaurant on it. He said that his terms for renewing the lease are that the restaurant become kosher. Leftists protested but the city said that he can do whatever he wants on his own property.
Before protesting, think about to whom the protest is being directed and what you are trying to achieve. Personally, I would never protest the parade simply for the fact that the more counter protesters, the bigger they are going to make the parade. Keep the spotlight off them and they will become irrelevant.