N L
10:02 PM (8 minutes ago)
to me, Eliezer
BS"D
Jew-Hatred in Israel?: #WeToo
Alarming Instances of Anti-Jewish Religious-Discrimination Against Orthodox Women and Girls, by Draft Officials -- and Staff at Military Prison Number Four
Teves 15, 5780 °° Jan. 12, '20
By Binyomin Feinberg
FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com
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Update:
Yet another Israeli girl, Tal-Yah Bas Rus, was recently reportedly incarcerated in Military Prison Four due to her refusal to enlist in the Israeli Army. She should be commended and vigorously assisted, in light of her willingness to endure imprisonment rather than enlist in the military. We hope to provide updated information as it becomes available.
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To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week, please visit Updates for month of Teves '80:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LDLjvECWQExYoGjqIrbZtWALp6MpkHq22ihNz2BLuYM/edit?usp=sharing
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###### BREAKING NEWS: ######
A significant scandal has been brought to light, just as we approach an important hearing this week - for Orpaz Orah G. (bas Aliza). Orah is a 27 y/o religious woman, on whom we recently reported (https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2020/01/27-yo-female-refusenik-in-israeli-jai.html ). Orah was imprisoned over two weeks ago, for ostensibly submitting her Religiosity-Certification somewhat late -- a whopping TEN years ago. She is yet another religious woman suffering for maintaining her refusal to submit to the military draft, which is absolutely prohibited according to leading Rabbis across the spectrum.
Our latest information is that Orah does not have a private attorney, but rather is presently reliant on the performance of her government-paid lawyer, and that there is no specific, clear path to her release in sight at this time.
° The recently revealed scandal involves two staff members at that Military Prison (Four), who illicitly denied attorney access to Orah, as well as to another recently incarcerated girl - also a religious objector to military service. These staff members allegedly denied both of these religious objectors the opportunity to meet a specific female religious attorney. The lawyer in question is a private attorney, who has provided assistance to multiple girls incarcerated in military prison over their refusal to violate the Torah (and their personal modesty) by enlisting in the Army. We hold back on publishing the names of the suspects for the time being.
Is this mistreatment of religious girls motivated by antireligious animus, or do these girls and the attorney in question just happen to be religious? Firstly, such misconduct has no place in or outside of government, regardless of motivation. Secondly, unfortunately, there appears to be a systemic tolerance for anti-religious bias, an example being the now-resolved case of Avigail Leah H.
(See https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2019/08/alh-report-2-28-augviolating-vineyard.html and https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2019/09/violating-vineyard-update.html .)
° Another issue that urgently requires attention is the process of delegation of such cases to activists. A number of the activists who have been most effective in assisting female religious objectors feel hampered by lack of information. The primary manner of fighting for imprisoned women like Orah is via disseminating accurate and detailed information. The government knows that very well, and appears to be orchestrating the delegation of cases accordingly, so that the activists who take more militant approach to freeing these women don't get access to the case or the requisite information (at least not without a lot of painstaking and time-consuming work).
° Additionally, while it's important that Chareidi activists are involved in helping, or trying to assist this non-Chareidi young woman, the vocal protest of the national-religious community is vital to put a stop to this ongoing targeting of non-Chareidi / national-religious women and girls by the Army. Does the government see the rightwing national-religious community as an ally willing enough to sacrifice their own daughters to conscription, in violation of Torah Law, for strongly held nationalistic ideals? Or do they hope to hoodwink the community into averting their focus as the government pursues individual girls not connected with mainstream communities and influential leaders? Whatever the case may be, it's incumbent on all religious Jews to liberate the Israeli government of the notion that they can continue to intimidate, terrorize, arrest, incarcerate and persecute such girls with impunity in the future.
We've already reported (quoting Ma'ariv Online) on the government goal of reaching a shocking 40% Army enlistment of national-religious high school girls*, G-d forbid. They're clearly admitting to targeting national-religious girls. That means that all Jews have a commensurate obligation to escalate our vigilance for that particular targeted national-religious sector, regardless of any differences of opinion, shitos, etc.
° The attitude of some people that each group should just focus on saving "it's own" girls is wrong, not only from a Halachic perspective, but from a practical one as well. The government has demonstrated itself more than adept at "divide-and-conquer." Thus we must remain ahead of the game by excelling in "all-for-one," regardless of who that "one" is. Thereby, the daughter you help save may, one day, be your own.
May we merit the Final Redemption speedily in the merit of authentic unity, one that sacrifices neither ideological integrity, maintenance of proper boundaries, cognizance of the bigger picture, or broader communal responsibility.
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* https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2019/11/online-updates-in-culture-wars-parshas.html
http://firstamendmentactivist.blogspot.com/2019/11/culture-wars-updates-online-vayaira.html?m=1
(Also reported in our Jewish Press Dispatch column at the time of those postings.)
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The Tenth of Teves:
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For a relevant post, with a perspective on the fast of the Tenth of Teves, see:
https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2020/01/tenth-of-teves-day-of-reckoning.html
