Recent Protests for Human Rights in Israel

Recently, advocates for women's rights in Israel held a large protest against the extreme ultra-Orthodox organization, Eda Haredit. These and other members of ultra-Orthodox sects have sought to impose very restrictive standards in territory where they have a significant number of residents. This includes making women walk on the other side of the street so that the men will not be defiled by accidental contact, rigidly modest dress codes and forcing women to ride in the back of public buses that provide service to ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.

The catalyst for the protest was the treatment of an 8 year old Modern Orthodox girl as she was walking to school in the town of Bet Shemesh. The Eda Haredit claim that the dress of the Modern Orthodox is immodest, but by any standard in the West the dress of the Zionist Modern Orthodox is very modest - it is just not up to Taliban standards! One of the Eda Haredit spat on the girl. Thousands rallied to protest. The protest included both secular Jews and religious Jews who do not normally identify with the utra-Orthodox. The Chief Rabbi of Israel has spoken against the sect's behavior, as has the Prime Minister and many other political leaders.

The Tepid Response to Violations against Messianic Jews

I think it is instructive to compare this reaction to the reaction to human rights violations against Messianic Jews. When a Messianic Jewish woman, in-spite of winning a Supreme Court case, was put out of business due to the complaints of Orthodox Jews, there was no protest. There was no protest when ultra-Orthodox Jews harassed a Messianic couple in Arad and shut down their chess club. Finally after months of harassment the co-proprietor of the club sought to slowly drive forward when protestors blocked him from getting to his own house. When one of them was injured, the Messianic believer was arrested and later punished by the court and sentenced to house confinement. When a Messianic Jewish congregation in Beersheva was broken into, vandalized and the members pushed and mistreated, there was no protest. A subsequent court case found the leader of the Orthodox group to be innocent. They claimed there was not sufficient evidence to find him guilty.

Finally, when a bomb disguised as a Purim gift basket planted on the doorstep of the Ortiz home almost killed their son Ami, there was no great protest. Ami Ortiz has undergone a painful recovery with multiple surgeries. Thankfully the alleged bomber is finally going on trial, having recently been found competent to stand trial. The accused, Jack Teitel admitted to police that he worked for the extreme anti-missionary organization, Yad L'achim (A Hand to the Brothers). They denied that they supported his actions, but Yad L'achim regularly harasses Messianic Jews and Christians. This group was exposed in a recent national Channel 2 program. They actually want to see Christian Zionists lose their visas to be in Israel, even if they commit to not evangelize. This is their goal, in spite of the fact that Christian Zionists are a major force to gain support for Israel in many nations. The recent late leader of Yad L'achim said that when human rights conflict with Judaism, human rights must give way to Judaism. Of course, many others do believe that Judaism must support human rights. The conflict between human rights and Judaism is his incorrect interpretation of Judaism.

Recently, Messianic Jews in the town of Mevasseret Tzion were illegally harassed by having their names and pictures with addresses printed on flyers distributed throughout the town. A resident of Mevasseret had been featured in a Channel 2 documentary on Messianic Jews. There has been no great protest against these violations of both human rights and Israeli law. The reason? Messianic Jews are not a favoured minority.