Israeli city told to pay women damages after failing to remove ‘modesty signs’

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Israeli city told to pay women damages after failing to remove ‘modesty signs’

Billboards in ultra-orthodox community bar women from certain buildings and pavements and
warn against ‘slutty clothing worn in a religious style’

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem
Thursday 29 January 2015 16.04 GMT

Four female campaigners have been awarded damages in a groundbreaking case in an Israeli court, after their local municipality refused to remove illegal and threatening signs demanding women wear “modest” clothing in public.

The case marks the first time that campaigners against gender segregation in Israel’s ultra-orthodox Jewish communities have persuaded a court to rule against the so-called “modesty signs” – despite the fact that they were deemed unlawful by the attorney general two years ago.

Judge David Gidoni found that the failure of the local authority in the city of Beit Shemesh to take down the signs violated the women’s civil rights. He ruled that the “hurtful, degrading and discriminatory” signs put up by ultra-orthodox radicals “delivered a mortal blow to the rights of women in the city” and instructed Beit Shemesh to compensate the women for their “mental anguish”. The municipality must now pay each of the women 15,000 shekels (£2,530) in compensation.

The signs include “warnings” excluding women from certain buildings and pavements in the city of 80,000, which is about 20 miles south-west of Jerusalem. Another billboard, signed “residents of the neighbourhood”, declares: “Dire warning: It is forbidden to walk on our streets in immodest dress, including slutty clothing worn in a religious style.” Another sign – posted near a synagogue – instructs women to walk on the opposite pavement.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/29/israeli-city-to-pay-women-damages-illegal-modesty-signs

[oberliner]

1. Glad Israel is stepping up and dealing with this crap

Would that the rest of the region would follow their lead.

[dhol82]

2. What the hell

is slutty clothing worn in a religious style??

The image in my mind is bizarre.

[MisterP]

4. tzitzit pasties?

[Scootaloo]

6. No no. You've got it backwards

It's a Rabbinical Fatwa against slutty clothing worn in a religious style, not religious clothing worn in a slutty style.

And like dhol, i really have no idea what that would amount to.

[shaayecanaan]

8. I'm presuming that they're referring to "hot chanis"

ie, women who manage to look as sexy as possible while strictly complying with frum modesty rules.

[leftynyc]

13. You can't call it a fatwa

as nobody is calling for the death of these women if they don't comply. That's what a fatwa is.

[whathehell]

28. You rang?

What is "slutty" clothing?..Better yet...What's a "slut"?...Why

aren't MEN called "sluts"?.

Why is only ONE gender denigrated for doing

what men WANT in the first place?


"Pity the Tender Sex, for they have to deal with Men, who are

at once, their Seducers and their Judges". Thomas Paine.



If Thomas Paine could get the injustice of the Double Standard

Two Hundred Plus years ago, what's your excuse?

[King_David]

35. In the Gay world men are called sluts all the time. nt

[whathehell]

37. okay,

but they're not in the Straight world.

[King_David]

3. Would not expect any less in a progressive democracy.....

[Scootaloo]

5. Maybe perhaps a lack of these signs in the first place would be expected?

You don't even see that sort of shit in Alabama.

Of course, comparing Alabama culture to Israeli culture is like comparing a T-bone steak to a frozen hot dog.

[King_David]

7. Yes your offensive views on Israel and Zionism are well known here,

To all of us…

And now it's "Israeli culture"



Welcome back from, what is it ....your 6th time out from DU ?

[Scootaloo]

9. I don't think you actually get to use the royal "we." You're not a plural.

And yes, I've spoken on "Israeli culture" before. More accurately, I've spoken on the lack of any such thing. I beleive the phrase "barbaric backwater' was used? Something to that effect

Tell you what. if Israel ever gets as developed and renowned in the fields of ethics or philosophy as it is in the realms of spying and killing, I'll give it a second look. Or if Israel manages to catch up to the great state of Iowa on the issue of LGBT rights. You know, maybe this ruling will help, since big billboards threatening women with rabbinical fatwas aren't a great sign of an advanced culture, either.

Who knows? Some day Israel might actually lift its head from between its own legs and join the rest of the rest of us as a somewhat civilized nation. It can't be that hard to leapfrog El Salvador, right?

[King_David]

11. "we" ?

Another offensive post for all of us to see.

A rant about "Israeli Culture "

LOL


( Full LGBT rights in Israel really offends you and that's clear for all of us to see... If only so called "progressives" who think they are Palestinian spokespeople would fight for some semblance of it in Palestinian governed areas.)

[King_David]

12. Israel Introduces Progressive Trans Rights Law

Israel has joined some of the more progressive nations around the world, now allowing for gender changes for transgender people on national identification cards without surgery. The new rules followed in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling, which allowed two transgender Israelis to change their gender on their cards without medical intervention. This is seen as a landmark case, as prior to this, Israelis were only allowed to change their names.

From now on, the same group in the Ministry of Health that determined sex change operations will now determine and examine gender designation. If candidates are approved, the government will issue a certificate allowing for a gender change on national ID cards.

http://os.care2.com/all/israel-introduces-progressive-trans-rights-law#1

[geek tragedy]

16. Only 30 years behind Iran.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexuality_in_Iran

[King_David]

19. Kol Hakavod to Iran

Last edited Fri Jan 30, 2015, 02:56 PM - Edit history (1)

Now if only they would stop killing their Gay citizens.

Iran executes three men on homosexuality charges

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/07/iran-executes-men-homosexuality-charges

[King_David]

29. Fuck Iran and their homophobia

Iran executes three men on homosexuality charges

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/07/iran-executes-men-homosexuality-charges

[leftynyc]

14. That poster

actually had the audacity to call this a fatwa - as if anyone is calling for the death of these women. Poster will do anything to try and tie Israel to the women-hating jihadists.

[geek tragedy]

17. fatwa: noun; a ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a recognized authority. nt

[leftynyc]

20. Are you just trying to prove my point?

What the fuck does this have to do with a fatwa? Since when is Israel governed by islamic law?

[geek tragedy]

21. Metaphor. Just like referring to the ultra-orthodox

as Israel's version of the Taliban.

[leftynyc]

24. You can pretend fatwa

hasn't been used to convey a death sentence as a result of some moronic insult to Islam all you want. All you're doing is kicking this very nice thread up and proving how Israel is so much different from its neighbors where these women would get beaten in the streets.

[geek tragedy]

25. well, the terms "judgment" and "sentence" also are used to convey the idea

that someone ought to be put to death, so I guess those are out of bounds now too.

[leftynyc]

26. Nice try

but fatwas, as I understand them, don't come from civil courts. They come from some schmuck iman who doesn't like when women show their ankles or their prophet is insulted. But thanks for the kick of the thread.

[geek tragedy]

27. So because they are connected to Islam they are bad?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatwa_on_Terrorism

[leftynyc]

30. As far as I'm concerned

Any law based on any religion is bad - I say that as Jew currently enjoying a cheeseburger.

[oberliner]

10. "You don't even see that sort of shit in Alabama"

You see it in New York, though.

[geek tragedy]

18. Where in NY? nt

[oberliner]

22. Kiryas Joel

This is from 2010:

Welcome To Kiryas Joel: Please Dress Accordingly

Excerpt:

Congregation Yetev Lev posted signs at the village’s entrance – in both English and Spanish – asking outsiders to cover their legs and arms, use appropriate language and maintain gender separation in public.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/08/31/welcome-to-kiryas-joel-please-dress-accordingly/

[geek tragedy]

23. I must have missed the threats and violence mentioned in that story

Not to mention the very conspicuous, billboard nature of them and the fact they commanded people to behave in a certain way.

[oberliner]

31. Huh?

I was talking about signs like the one in the OP.

They were conspicuous placed in the neighborhood and commanded people to behave in a certain way.

[geek tragedy]

32. I don't see the command.

Also, the accompanying harassment including spitting on children.

[oberliner]

33. You don't?

Certainly comes off that way to me.

Even if you don't think it is as commanding - it certainly is similarly themed to the signs in the OP.

[geek tragedy]

34. Certainly creepy, but not coercive. nt

[King_David]

36. "Okay Oberliner you proved me wrong "

Is really what you meant to say or should of said .

[leftynyc]

15. No but I do expect to find

it in any country run on sharia law.