Haredi demonstrations against the autopsy of a 13-year-old boy in Jerusalem, February 7, 2024/Photo: Israel Police
A series of cases of vandalism of women's images in the public space presents a worrying picture of the city.
In the last week at least four photos of candidates for the Jerusalem City Council were vandalized with graffiti on their faces - from the entire political spectrum in Jerusalem.
First were members of the Awakening list: Miriam Sela, Yaara Shilo and Noa Shalom, whose faces were sprayed with graffiti on a sign calling to vote for their list in the elections.
"I can't believe that even now, after the 7/10 against the background of the war and the strength that women demonstrated on all fronts, there are those who are trying to exclude women from the public sphere in an ugly and violent way," criticized Miriam Sela, the deputy chairperson of the movement for awakening in Jerusalem who also filed a complaint with the police against the act. "The time has come to uproot this phenomenon," she said. "Enforcement and harsh punishment are the minimum to ensure that such a case does not happen again.
It cannot be that the generation of women who are building the State of Israel, will have to keep busy trying to exclude and make them disappear from the public sphere."
Exclusion of women in the public sphere/Yenon Shalom Yathach
Exclusion of women in the public sphere/Yenon Shalom Yathach
After them, Hagit Moshe, the deputy mayor and the religious Zionist candidate whom many see as a partner in promoting the religious atmosphere in the city - was also injured by spraying on a "starring" billboard.
"Unfortunately, it seems that there are people who have not yet learned the lesson of October 7 and feel threatened by successful women in the public sphere," said the chairman of Religious Zionism. This morning
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two more buses were defaced with red and black graffiti of women's faces in the public sphere - this time from the Likud party. Yael Entavi, the head of the Likud list in Jerusalem, and Dalit Gahan, a candidate for the city council, were also affected by the violent act that tries to exclude women from the public sphere. In response to the defacement, the two gave Alas! Because this is a cowardly act that must be condemned. "Apparently there are those who are afraid of a strong woman who is at the top of the list of illegal immigrants," they said.
"It won't help them, I'm sure the public will give the appropriate response to this act at the ballot box."
Exclusion of women in the public sphere/Yenon Shalom Yathach
Exclusion of women in the public sphere/Yenon Shalom Yathach
From this series of actions, together with the kidnapping of the body last week and the violent riots near the light rail - it appears that the extreme populations in the city, who rebel against the existing public order - are completely undeterred.
The police and the enforcement authorities prefer to handle them with a soft hand and do not generate enough warning in order to eradicate the phenomenon, for example the wholesale acquittals in the courts of troublemakers, the scant evidence that is collected on them - and these acts of vandalism, along with the daily attacks in the city - only increase over time.
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Jerusalem
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