I have lived in the epicenter of Jewish religious extremism for 15 years and I’ve been writing about what I witness there since 2013. And while we have won some battles against extremists, we are losing the war.
When I started writing, I was told that it was “just a few crazies”, that it wouldn’t expand beyond the small neighborhood in which they live (which abuts mine), and that if we left them alone, they’d leave us alone.
Ten years later I can tell you, to my great despair, that each of these statements has been proven wrong.In the past weeks alone, violence against soldiers, women and children has escalated to a point that if we do not act, it is likely that someone will be gravely injured or worse.
Soldiers are taunted, called “Nazis” and even chased by mobs, forced to find shelter with strangers. Girls and women are harassed to sit at the back of the bus; when I wrote about this in 2013 when my own daughters were told to go to the back of the bus, I was told I was making a big deal about nothing.
Girls, religious girls, are targeted by grown men for not being “tznius” (modest). Boys are threatened by men for having smartphones. And the reports keep coming in.
Some claim this is a religious war. But we’ve seen that this is a turf war. And we who care about true religious freedom and justice are rapidly losing ground to the extremists by not stopping them in their tracks.
Enforcing gender segregation has been the number one tactic of the extremists. By portraying their actions as “religious freedom,” they call for “cultural sensitivity” and ask that their way of life be respected. An ironic request, as they expect the respect to go only one way: in their own direction.
The current demand by the religious parties to change Israeli law to allow forced gender segregation in the public sphere at publicly funded events is similarly not a benign request for respect. Without changing a thing, crowds can already sit separately if they want to. Segregation is allowed, it just can’t be forced. A significant difference.