海角大神

The harassment of an 8-year-old girl by ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Shemesh is shaking Israel鈥檚 self image to the core, stirring nationwide outrage about escalating religious zealotry and creeping public聽segregation of women.

For months, Na鈥檃ma Margolis and classmates at her school聽endured insults and spitting by the neighborhood's strict Orthodox Jews 鈥撀爇nown in Hebrew as "Haredi,'' or God fearing 鈥� who complain that聽they should dress more modestly. When their story was featured on a聽weekend news magazine several days ago, it ignited already simmering聽worry about efforts of the ultra-religious to exclude women in places聽like public buses or the army.

"I think the whole country needs to wake up 鈥� that it鈥檚聽not just a corner in Beit Shemesh,鈥欌�� said Ailsa Coleman, a 42-year-old neighbor who聽volunteered to escort Margolis's classmates outside the school and was also spat on. "It鈥檚 happening聽everywhere."

In recent days there have been repeated clashes聽between ultra-Orthodox protesters and police and attacks on news crews聽in Beit Shemesh. Thousands of protesters gathered in the city with聽signs reading "Segregation of Women is my Red Line鈥欌�� and warning of聽an Israeli theocracy.

The segregation reflects the Haredi minority's growing influence on聽Israel's politics and economy. Civil rights聽advocates and Beit Shemesh locals say that the government and law enforcement authorities have聽turned a blind eye, even though the examples of exclusion proliferate.

They point to special arrangements for ultra-Orthodox聽communities where women are relegated to the rear of the buses, have separate lines in eateries, and sit in health clinic waiting rooms that are divided by gender. There are also efforts to erase images of women聽from public billboards.聽Last week, a secular woman was heckled for riding in the front of one of the buses and pressured to move.

"This ties into whether we are democratic liberal state聽that protects women鈥檚 rights, or whether we鈥檙e not going to be a聽democracy in a future," said Einat Horovitz, a spokeswoman of the聽Religious Action Center, an Israeli nonprofit which challenged the聽bus segregation in Israel鈥檚 Supreme Court. "Politicians don鈥檛聽realize that being a democracy isn鈥檛 only about the rule of the聽majority, its about protecting human rights and the rights of the聽minority, and this has escaped our politicians."

In Beit Shemesh, prominent signs calling for modest dress and聽excluding women from certain sidewalks near synagogues have been聽tolerated for years in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood near the elementary聽school,聽which happens to serve a less strict group of Orthodox Jews.聽

In a statement, the Haredi rabbis of Beit Shemesh insisted that even without the signs, ultra-Orthodox women would follow rules of modesty.

"It is for the honor toward women and the fact that Judaism orders the separation of men and women in the public sphere," the statement read, according to a transcript printed on the Ynet News website. It also asserted that the ultra-Orthodox wish to live in homogenous communities to allow them to pass on their way of life.

Since its inception, Israel has allowed聽ultra-Orthodox communities remain cut off from the mainstream,聽allowing them to set up autonomous school systems, granting them聽exemptions from compulsory military service, and providing them with subsidies so they can focus on聽religious study rather than joining the workforce. But their growing聽numbers 鈥� their birthrate is much higher than the Israeli average 鈥� have sparked worry about the ramifications for the Israeli聽economy and the influence on society.

Residents and officials said that Haredi community is聽taking out its frustration on the pupils because they wanted the聽school for their own children. In Beit Shemesh, there鈥檚 an ongoing turf聽battle between the ultra-Orthodox and the rest of the community for new聽building in the city.聽

In response to the uproar, ultra Orthodox partners in Israel鈥檚聽coalition accused Israel's secular media of a witch hunt against their聽community and accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of selling out聽a loyal constituency for political convenience.聽Mr. Netanyahu鈥檚 said on Tuesday that segregation of women "contradicts traditional spirit of the Tanakh (Jewish scriptures, or Old Testament) and Judaism, and contradicts the democratic principles on which Israel was based."

Observers say that the uproar over segregation shows an enduring chasm between the ultra-Orthodox and the Israeli mainstream.聽

"Modern society has broken a lot of barriers, and religious society聽has kept some of those barriers up,"聽says Aaron Katsman, a financial聽advisor and former economic columnist the ultra-Orthodox newspaper聽Hamodia. "Both sides don鈥檛 know how to deal with each other. You聽have a meeting of two groups which have never spoken to each other,聽and never met each other, and neither side knows how to deal with聽it."