Merav Ben Ari: "Budget to strengthen poverty and ignorance" (Photo: Knesset Channel)/Maariv
It is hard to be shocked by what is said in the Israeli Knesset, which we have become accustomed to as the black mirror version of "Big Brother" where the tenants manage the state budget.
Still, one collision attracted the public's attention last night in a special way.
"A mischievous, lying and ignorant lady," the Minister of Manners and Manners Mai Golan slammed MK Merav Ben Ari in the plenary session last night in the Knesset. "We will bring her back to sign unemployment," she snapped below the belt. From there she continued to hurl personal and low insults at Ben Ari, which I will summarize In the words you're-disgusting-and-you-don't-have-friends. The nickname "croaking chicken" also had to make a comeback, because if there's one thing Golan knows - it's driving Ben Ari crazy, and she enjoys it like only someone who has ever bullied her younger brothers knows.
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Poop on your hands.
Merav Ben Ari/Maariv
Ben Ari, who tried, really tried with all her might to come out as the big man in the story, finally rolled up her sleeves: "I will sign 10 times at the labor office, as a single parent with a mortgage and rent, and I will not put a picture of myself half naked on a CD, even if I was young and stupid."
Hereby she referred to a stirring event that took place earlier this week, in which a photograph of Mai Golan was discovered in a soft nude, in a somewhat sadistic position, on the cover of an album called "Queen of the Slaves".
It is doubtful whether its creators ever envisioned such a public response.
Indeed, Mai Golan had great courage to open a front with someone in the week of the discovery of the photo.
In fact, it seems as if Golan deliberately pressed all of Ben Ari's sensitive points, as if she wanted to extract the concession from her.
If it was indeed a trap, it is hard to judge Ben Ari for falling into it.
Golan put her in a situation where the opinion of any full-fledged human being would have been destroyed, and if so, certainly the opinion of a politician.
May Golan is one of the most distressed people the Knesset has known, and anyone who has read my previous references to her cannot suspect me of sympathizing with her or her views.
And yet, it is important to say clearly: any reference to Golan's appearance on the same album cover as more than curiosities (very entertaining indeed) - will be tainted with self-righteousness, sexism and also a bit of misogyny, because it is impossible to imagine any male politician being judged so harshly for a bare image or any statement of character consensual sex.
Golan herself was probably not too hurt by the statement, maybe even hired by it.
But she shouldn't be of much interest to us.
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And now she works in the Israeli Knesset.
Mai Golan/screenshot, Twitter
Those who should be interested in us are those single mothers and hard-working women in general, who sometimes in their distress do turn to jobs that are not in line with Ben-Ari's strict values, perhaps not even their own values.
Sometimes these are jobs that include one degree or another of nudity, maybe even providing sexual services.
It is not our place as a society to judge them for the efforts they make to earn a living and provide for their children, as long as they do not harm their environment.
There may be a great deal of self-harm in their work, and this is where concern comes in.
This is how we should, as a rule, treat women who make a living from their sexuality: with concern, but not with judgment.
Sometimes the border seems thin, but there are cases, like this one, where it is transparent and visible.
Many things can be said to the condemnation of May Golan: that she is a racist, that she sins in all her essence to the office she represents ("advancement of women", remind you), she has a mouth and she doesn't exactly contribute anything positive to us against all these.
You can also condemn her for refusing to enlist under the pretext of repentance, when she was clearly not in such a process at that time.
To be photographed partially naked, at that time in her dubious teenage years, whether the body shown is indeed hers or was photoshopped as she claimed - is far from being one of her moral failings.
Other women who display their bodies in a similar way are not enemies of the state either.
To their credit, most of them, at least, will not degenerate to work in the worst whorehouse of all, aka the Knesset of Israel.
More on the same topic:
May Golan
Merav Ben Ari
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