Too little, too late

Fifty protesters marched into the Ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim last Tuesday, an almost un-newsworthy incident in response to enforced gender segregation of a Jerusalem street this Sukkot holiday.  The division of the sidewalk into men and women's sides, mimicking the separation of sexes in Orthodox synagogues, was a temporary fix, reportedly done each year during the heavy pedestrian-trafficked holiday.  The fifty protesters-- only fifty were permitted by a High Court of Justice order-- were accompanied by a phalanx of armed policemen, a testament to the threat posed by some among whom they stood against.  

This by no means justifies what is undeniably a discriminatory act, but this tiny outrage has been replied to with an equally insignificant and ineffectual outcry. From their Greater Tel Aviv bubble, most secular Israelis are blissfully unaware, insulated from the creeping infiltration of religious dogma into public Israeli life.  Yet here in Jerusalem it is becoming simply unavoidable-- albeit in varying degrees-- no matter where in the city you are.  Segregated buses and now streets, as well as increasingly hostile demonstrations against "infringing" secular acts (e.g.- parking garage feud and gay pride parade) are just the tip of the iceberg. This precipitous shift to the religious right is evident in Israeli politics on the whole, to which the ongoing Battle of Daylight Savings, the Settler movement, and the frozen issue of Jewish conversion attest.   

Credit be given to those who marched-- albeit symbolically-- in protest of this minor action by religious radicals.  But their numbers were pathetically few, and only responding to the least of the great injustices perpetrated by those who wish theocracy and strive for its eventual triumph.  Before other civil liberties fall victim to radical religion in our state, more must rise against their injustice.