No Freedom of Speech for Religious Jews in Israel

[muman613]

This story once again proves that the Israeli system is rigged against the religious Jews who have yearned for 2000 years to return to their historic homeland. Today we have a system where one can be arrested for simply saying something which an officer of the IDF doesn't approve of. In this case a religious man on a bus called a female soldier a 'whore' for not complying with the separate seating arrangement on some buses.

I do not condone the name calling. But is it a reason to be arrested? Here in America we have been taught that we have freedom of speech which means being able to say something even though it may hurt someone. We have a Constitutional right to be able to express our feelings in speech, so long as it is not going to incite others to violence. Calling a woman a 'whore' is not a capital offence, nor should it be something someone is arrested for...

What has happened to the 'democratic state' in the middle east? It is quickly turning into the 'Gestapo II' where Jews must live in fear of the government.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-israel-zealots-soldiertre7br0yh-20111228,0,2393826.story

Israel detains ultra-Orthodox man in bus row with soldier

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel detained an ultra-Orthodox man on Wednesday on suspicion of calling a woman soldier a "whore" on a public bus for refusing his appeals that she move to the back of the vehicle, a police spokesman said.

The incident came days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to crack down on acts of harassment by religious zealots, with the publicity surrounding these cases risking upsetting his political alliances with ultra-Orthodox parties.

Much of the controversy has surrounded complaints by women against ultra-Orthodox men trying to force them to sit separately in the backs of public buses in deference to their religious beliefs against any mixing of the sexes in public.

Soldier Doron Matalon said on Israel Radio that a devoutly religious man had approached her and insisted she move to the back of a bus in Jerusalem earlier on Wednesday, after she had embarked at a station near her military base.

"It was very frightening," Matalon said, saying the incident was not the first in which she had been asked to move to the back of a bus but that this time she felt more defiant.

Matalon said she replied to the man: "You can move to the back if you want. Just like you don't want to see my face, I don't want to see yours." She added that she was "serving our country, which unfortunately means I am also defending you."

The man responded by shouting at her "whore, go sit in the back," Matalon said, adding that the driver later stopped the vehicle and police arrived.

Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld confirmed an ultra-Orthodox man was taken into custody and "questioned about his motives" for insulting the soldier, but no decision had yet been made as to whether he would be charged.
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[edu]

In a real Torah government, the Jew who called this woman a slanderous name would indeed be punished for lashon hara (slander). Although religious courts don't give lashes today, in the time of the Talmud, people given the right conditions were given lashes for serious public lashon hara.
Let us choose our battles wisely.
When the secular government is clearly doing something that the Torah objects to, then we should struggle against them.
I don't think this is the situation in the case you cited.
But  maybe Muman613 your objection to the arrest can be based on the following.
That the government only arrests people for slander of this sort, if they belong to the wrong group.
But if for example, an anti-religious man would call a religious girl the same name, he would not be arrested.
So maybe you interpret the arrest  as just Camouflage used by the government, to go after religious Jews.

[muman613]

In a real Torah government, the Jew who called this woman a slanderous name would indeed be punished for lashon hara (slander). Although religious courts don't give lashes today, in the time of the Talmud, people given the right conditions were given lashes for serious public lashon hara.
Let us choose our battles wisely.
When the secular government is clearly doing something that the Torah objects to, then we should struggle against them.
I don't think this is the situation in the case you cited.
But  maybe Muman613 your objection to the arrest can be based on the following.
That the government only arrests people for slander of this sort, if they belong to the wrong group.
But if for example, an anti-religious man would call a religious girl the same name, he would not be arrested.
So maybe you interpret the arrest  as just Camouflage used by the government, to go after religious Jews.

Edu,

Yes indeed I am not attempting to minimize the transgression of lashon hara but I am pointing out the unfair laws of the so-called 'democratic' system of Israel. While the leftists and self-hating Jews can say anything derogatory about the religious Jews and not be arrested for it, a religious Jew says a single word 'Harlot' and he is imprisoned for 2 days without a trial, his face is plastered across the media and he is defamed, and he will face fines and other punishment. This is not fair, it is not righteous, it is simply a wicked system straight out of Sdom & Amora.

He is going to be charged with 'Sexual Harassment' which here in the states is a serious crime. Somehow calling someone a 'Harlot' is equated with sexual harassment.... It is senseless...

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151224

Shlomo Fuchs, a hareidi-religious man who allegedly called a female soldier "harlot" Wednesday when she refused to move to the "women's section" of the bus, was charged with sexual harassment Thursday.

Sexual harassment, which entered the Israeli law book in 1998, generally refers to sexual gestures or overtures made toward another person, when the other person showed that he was not interested in them. However, it also defines harassment as "a demeaning or humiliating remark made toward a person because of his sex or sexuality."
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Apparently if I were to call someone a 'homo' I might get locked up in Israel.... This is freedom? This is democracy? It sounds like USSR...

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

It sounds like USSR...

 Many of them are descendants of eastern europeans who came from communist places and mentalities. Now they are applying that to the country as has been from the beginning.

[muman613]

I wonder if according to Israeli law it is a crime to whistle at women as it might be considered sexual harassment...