The violence is escalating, with more than 2000 nuts protesting in Jerusalem.
Police were pelted with stones and bottles Thursday night as members of the Haredi ultra Orthodox Jewish sect engaged in a third night of rioting over next week's planned gay pride march in Jerusalem.
More than two thousand members of the sect jammed into streets in an Orthodox neighborhood in a show of force aimed at pressuring authorities into canceling the parade.
As in the past two nights the protestors rolled garbage cans into intersections to block mounted police from getting to the demonstrators. The garbage was set on fire and some protestors engaged in fist to fist combat with police.
Three police officers and a TV news cameraman were injured - none seriously. That brings the total number of people injured in three days of violence to nearly a dozen.
And that's not all. They're now trying to bomb police stations as well:
In the Samarian settlement of Eli a homemade bomb was found at the doorway of a police station. The device, which had a sign attached to it saying "Sodomites Out!" was disarmed.
This is terrorism, folks, plain and simple. These are terrorists and they should be treated as such. And they've promised to keep doing it:
Twenty-five protestors were arrested but leaders of the sect vowed that after a break for the Jewish Sabbath they will continue to demonstrate.
The Haredi's leaders appeared again tonight at the head of the protest wearing sack cloth, a Biblical sign of mourning.
The Haredi do not believe in a secular state and that all laws should be Biblically based. They frequently clash with non observant Jews who drive cars into their neighborhoods on the Sabbath.
So someone tell me the difference between these people and Al Qaeda. Both advocate theocracy. Both are willing to commit violence, including blowing up police stations, to achieve their goals. But if these were Palestinians doing this, the Israeli tanks would already have rolled in to those neighborhoods, the leaders would have been arrested and the crowds of rioters would have been fired on, with tear gas if not with real bullets.
The riots have also now spread to Tel Aviv as well.
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Like those wacko Orthodox bigots don't have enough enemies already?
I feel such shame. These are my people who are behaving this way. I wish there was a way for me to tell them to stop. Of course, that's easy to type when I'm curled up safe with my laptop. If they only knew how they are making their co-religionists feel. I'm not alone in my area. A few of the Jews at my school are going to a party in a few weeks to celebrate the ruling in New Jersey.
I feel like everything that happens in the Middle East is an expression of being separated by similarities as much as differences.
I think you mentioned they have been doing these marches before? Did they meet with this sort of thing before too? Or has israeli society gotten more and more fundie?
Again I think this shows how Israeli society is becoming more middle eastern. But at bottom I think Israel has a real problem with the twin issues of having a state religion yet wanting to be modern/secular and have the civil rights that go with that. It is impossible to do in a theocracy.
Yes I know that Israel is not the same sort of theocracy as say Iran. but it has these religious institutions that have actual governmental power (like the chief rabbis and stuff) and to me it is a rather schizophrenic governmental philosophy that is not destined to work very well over time if you define a government's success by how well minorities are protected.
Anna wrote:
The gay pride events have gone on for a few years now and there have always been problems, but nothing like this. Last year, 3 men were stabbed by one crazy who is in prison now, and about 1000 protestors lined the parade route, some of whom threw bags of urine and feces at the marchers. But this year seems to be a whole new level of opposition, much larger, better organized and willing to go so far as to attempt to bomb a police station.
See, D'Souza was right! We need to send a strong message to these terrorists by voting in favor of the Protect Traditional Marriage Amendments this Nov. 7. "We feel your pain."
Re Anne in Portland (was Cairo)
I wonder what the reaction would be if a similer march was proposed for Cairo? I would also point out that the rioters are also being egged on by Christian and Muslim whackjobs, with whom they have nothing else in common.
Fox-
Don't feel ashamed! These extremists are NOT your people, just like Bin Laden is not a Muslim, and the Fred Phelps cult is not Christian. These wacko zealots try to hijack otherwise moral and upstanding religions for their own personal gain, in order to spread hate and intolerance. If anything, these people are the true enemies of the religions they claim to represent, and if you respect your religion, you should do everything you can to prevent them from soiling whatever faith you hold dear.
SLC wrote:
The same thing would happen in Cairo. And it would be just as wrong. And the fact that these Jewish whackjobs have Muslim and Christian whackjobs agreeing with them does nothing to change the fact that they're whackjobs.
Michael, what nonsense -- bin Laden most certainly is a Muslim, Fred Phelps a Christian, and these fanatics are most certainly Jews. Moreover, their flaws are deeply related to their religious beliefs.
Re Ed Brayton
I have some news for Mr. Brayton. If such a march was proposed for Cairo, the proposers would immediately be arrested and thrown in jail. Mr. Brayton will see the back of his own ear (old Arab saying) before such a proposed Cairo march would be approved.
SLC,
Are you suggesting that I don't know how anti-gay the system is in Egypt? I did live there for many years. I am not an idiot. The subject of Ed's post is Israel, so that was what I am discussing.
Are people who have lived in an Arab country not allowed to talk about Israel because the Arab country is more anti-gay than it is? I lived there, I was not in charge of its anti-gay laws.
In fact in an earlier thread I mentioned how seriously anti-gay Egypt's laws are. But of course given that I lived in Cairo I can't say anything about Israel, oh heavens no.
Whatever.
I'm not sure there is any country in the middle east (US favored Israel or not) that wouldn't have this sort of thing. The unrest there breeds this kind of intolerance. It doesn't mske it right, under any circumstances, but it's not astounding to recognize how it happens.
"bin Laden most certainly is a Muslim, Fred Phelps a Christian, and these fanatics are most certainly Jews. Moreover, their flaws are deeply related to their religious beliefs."
At least Jews rarely export violence to non-Jews.
As a gay Arab Israeli, take my word that it is currently 100 times better to be gay in Israel than in any Arab country, especially Gaza from where I literally "escaped". I am living in Israel now illegally, but I am safe relatively.
I will not be marching in the parade. I don't seek such violent confrontation with religous extremists, especially those from who would otherwise pay no attention to me. Its more than I can say of my fellow Arabs.