Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Right Out of the Palestinian Playbook

JPost reports:

"Activists here fear that a shortage of female troops will force male soldiers and police officers to drag their women away. Itiel Ariel, a rabbi from Beit Shemesh, said that "contact between men and women is such painful humiliation for the religious community that it could blow everything up." He said that only the "manhandling of religious women" could cause the more than 1,000 activists here to raise their fists at soldiers."

Isn't that the argument the Palestinians use? That "humiliation" could lead to violence? How is it humiliating for a woman to be removed by male soldiers? I understand the religious imperatives involved, but none of them justifies violence.

And there's an obvious way to avoid the whole problem. Don't make the soldiers drag you out. Living in Gaza is now illegal, as determined by the democratic processes in Israel. Since when do practitioners of civil disobedience decide who arrests them? These are the risks people run when they break the law.

I'm not saying there aren't legitimate reasons to break the law, but law-breakers cannot expect the police to kowtow to their every whim.

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