The seemingly harmless event, in which the popular Arab-Israeli journalist Sayed Kashua talked about pluralism and tolerance, broke a long-standing ban on holding activities in public buildings on the Jewish day of rest. [...] from no public services offered on Saturdays to promoting gender segregation, the community is undermining the very basis of our democratic state, said Dina Azriel, a leader in the grassroots Free Kiryat Yovel initiative, which sponsored the recent lecture. While most Israelis are secular, Israel's founding fathers gave Judaism a formal place in the country's affairs, and Orthodox rabbis strictly govern religious events such as weddings, divorces, and burials for the Jewish population. Attempts to change this status quo have prompted violent backlashes from the ultra-Orthodox, who haven't hesitated to block roads, clash with police or send tens of thousands of activists into the streets when ordered by their rabbis. In recent years, the ultra-Orthodox have grown bolder, pressuring the local bus company, Egged, to operate gender-segregated lines through religious neighborhoods, attempting to separate men and women on public sidewalks and ripping down billboards with female images on them. Because of the threat of vandalism, Egged recently decided to cease all advertising on its Jerusalem buses by October 2013. Just last week, a prominent female activist was arrested for wearing a traditionally male prayer shawl at the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, an act that police prohibit because of Orthodox Jewish sensitivities.
10/25/2012
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