An Israeli member of a "modesty patrol" was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of aggravated assault. He broke into the apartment of a formerly ultra-orthodox woman who the Haredi community felt was not living in accordance with their religious standards, and beat her until she required medical attention.
As I said, these men are Judaism's version of the Taliban. They are insolent thugs who deserve to be met with the full force of the law. This conviction is an excellent first step.
Speaking of backwards attitudes, I'm curious as to your thoughts about the Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia. A group is opposing ISA's building a new campus, pretextually because it might "cause unmanageable traffic," but actually because of the content of the school's teachings and the actions of some alumni.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to say without a good grasp on what the ISA actually does. From the WaPo article it sounds like (at least with the textbook reforms) they're a fundamentalist group but not a violent one -- as they point out, the view they express on Jews isn't any different from fundamentalist Christianity or Judaism (I'm curious if the TVC would even disagree, except they'd replace Islam with Christianity).
ReplyDeleteThe TVC, of course, is a repellent organization, so it'd be hard for me to sign on to any program they'd advocate for even if I was convinced it was a good idea.