Haredim Attack Female Reporter

Haredim attack female reporter, cover her in spit, in latest round of Jerusalem riots.

Reporter feels mob's hate in the Holy City
By Australian Broadcasting Company Middle East correspondent Anne Barker

The ABC's Middle East correspondent Anne Barker became caught in violent street protests involving ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem at the weekend. This is her graphic account of her ordeal.

As a journalist I've covered more than my share of protests. Political protests in Canberra. Unions protesting for better conditions. Angry, loud protests against governments, or against perceived abuses of human rights.

I've been at violent rallies in East Timor. I've had rocks and metal darts thrown my way. I've come up against riot police.

But I have to admit no protest - indeed no story in my career - has distressed me in the way I was distressed at a protest in Jerusalem on Saturday involving several hundred ultra-Orthodox Jews.

This particular protest has been going on for weeks.

Orthodox Jews are angry at the local council's decision to open a municipal carpark on Saturdays - or Shabbat, the day of rest for Jews.

It's a day when Jews are not supposed to do anything resembling work, which can include something as simple as flicking a switch, turning on a light or driving.

So even opening a simple carpark to accommodate the increasing number of tourists visiting Jerusalem's Old City is highly offensive to Orthodox Jews because it's seen as a desecration of the Shabbat, by encouraging people to drive.

I was aware that earlier protests had erupted into violence on previous weekends - Orthodox Jews throwing rocks at police, or setting rubbish bins alight, even throwing dirty nappies or rotting rubbish at anyone they perceive to be desecrating the Shabbat.

But I never expected their anger would be directed at me.

I was mindful I would need to dress conservatively and keep out of harm's way. But I made my mistake when I parked the car and started walking towards the protest, not fully sure which street was which.

By the time I realised I'd come up the wrong street it was too late.

I suddenly found myself in the thick of the protest - in the midst of hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews in their long coats and sable-fur hats.

They might be supremely religious, but their behaviour - to me - was far from charitable or benevolent.

As the protest became noisier and the crowd began yelling, I took my recorder and microphone out of my bag to record the sound.

Suddenly the crowd turned on me, screaming in my face. Dozens of angry men began spitting on me.

Spit like rain
I found myself herded against a brick wall as they kept on spitting - on my face, my hair, my clothes, my arms.

It was like rain, coming at me from all directions - hitting my recorder, my bag, my shoes, even my glasses.

Big gobs of spit landed on me like heavy raindrops. I could even smell it as it fell on my face.

Somewhere behind me - I didn't see him - a man on a stairway either kicked me in the head or knocked something heavy against me.

I wasn't even sure why the mob was angry with me. Was it because I was a journalist? Or a woman? Because I wasn't Jewish in an Orthodox area? Was I not dressed conservatively enough?

In fact, I was later told, it was because using a tape-recorder is itself a desecration of the Shabbat even though I'm not Jewish and don't observe the Sabbath.

It was lucky that I don't speak Hebrew. At least I was spared the knowledge of whatever filth they were screaming at me.

As I tried to get away I found myself up against the line of riot police blocking the crowd from going any further.

Reassurance
Israeli police in their flak jackets and helmets, with rifles and shields, were yelling just as loudly back at the protesting crowd.

For once I found them something of a reassurance against the angry, spitting mob.

I was allowed through, away from the main protest, although there were still Orthodox Jews on the other side, some of whom also yelled at me, in English, to take my recorder away.

Normally I should have stayed on the sidelines to watch the protest develop.

But when you've suffered the humiliation and degradation of being spat on so many times - and you're covered in other people's spit - it's not easy to put it to the back of your mind and get on with the job.

I left down a side street and walked the long way back to the car, struggling to hold back the tears.

And the irony is that my recorder, whose use had so offended the mob, had a dodgy flash card in it.

I hadn't been able to record a thing at all.

For all my illicit "work", I went home with nothing.

[Hat Tips: A. Nuran, steve, and John Hancock.]

Comments

[mordecai]

I wonder if this really happened. It seems somewhat convenient that she had a "dodgy flash card."

[Shlomo]

This is really disgusting so much so that even the majority on the VIN site (just) think so. (I didnt count)
Perhaps the chareim now will take a good hard look at themselves and what they really represent

[SJ]

The orthodox have no more self-control argument on why people should follow their way of life.

Not to mention rioting in Israel whenever they do not get what they want, which is a display of not having self control and of lawlessness, now there is this.

This of course isn't the first time orthodox assaults in Israel on women have been in the news.

[Radical Feminist]

Sounds like it was a mob out of control with nothing better to do on a lazy Saturday that beat up the nearest female they saw.
Since hating women is something the Haredi do best, a non-observant female, or gentile women, even better, to torture must have really given them a thrill.
The behavior should not surprise people though; this is exactly what uneducated religious wacos act like when given a little encouragement. Reminds me of the mentality you hear about in churches in the Appalachian mountains and Ozarks, or the Serfs of Russia 100 years ago.

[Neandershort]

Enough with the haredi goons and the stupid old rabbis who wink at them.

Dayenu

[Ben]

If we only were punished by Rav Ovadia Yosef desecrating memories of our martyrs it would be Enough for us

If we only were punished by Rav Sherman destroying tens of thousands of Jewish families it would be Enough for us

If we only were punished by Rav Elyashiv perverting of our religion by harsh unfair judgments it would be Enough for us

If we only were punished by Eidah Haredit desecrating shabbos in Jerusalem and spitting on foreign female journalists and burning garbage bins it would be Enough for us

If we were only were punished by our money transferred through taxation to our pious haters it would be Enough for us

Why then we got all of these punishments inflicted on Jewish people and Why all of these punishments inflicted on us by the people who claim to be more Jewish then Avraham Avinu himself?

Hashem, please give an explanation, please give a consolation.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

Jewish RW's have been applauding the former Australian Gvt intolerant attitude towards Moslem shenanigans. I wonder how those Australians now feel towards Jewish shenanigans. But hold it! Are these idiotsa Jews?

[Dr. Dave]

Oh please!!!

Really, the poor lady needed a brolly and a mac. Imagine that, getting wet.

Israeli police in their flak jackets and helmets, with rifles and shields, were yelling just as loudly back at the protesting crowd.

For once I found them something of a reassurance against the angry, spitting mob.

She works for ABC a strongly left wing anti Israel station. She obviously has an axe to grind with the IDF.

She should try reporting from Saudi Arabia and see if she just gets wet or gets dead.

Or try North Korea and spend the rest of her life in jail.

[curious]

It is not flattering for the chareidi crowd that this happened. On the other hand: before going near chareidi thugs, you should know what you are up to. In this case, you cannot say that ignorance is bliss...

[soso]

It is a professional fault for a journalist to go to a Meah Shearim riot without knowing that people might feel offended by her using a tape recorder...

On the other hand:
- chareidim never think the person "desacrating shabbat" could not even be jewish and therefore be in his full right

- this kind of behaviour (spitting) is despicable and not worthy of a religious person.

[critical_minyan]

I'm tired of the unabated Haredi bashing on this website. It was all a misunderstanding.
She needed to go to the Mikveh because she was on her period. To save time they just all spat at her. Maybe untraditional, but their hearts were in the right place.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Wasn't she in the NYC subway the other day with that dog?

[Ben]

Haredi require everyone obey their way of of life. Lets see, Jerusalem has over 35% non-Jewish population and millions of non-Jewish tourists per year, and all of them must observe Shabbat Haredi style? No parking for non-Jews on Shabbat? No driving?

Should Christians require Brooklyn Haredim to celebrate Christmas by using vionlence?

Are these evil Santas crazy or just stupid?

[MisterApikoros]

Anne Barker, huh?

While one can't be 100% sure these days (witness the many "Smiths" who are Jewish and the "Abramses" who are Christian such as Gen. Creighton Abrams who the M-1 Abrams tank is named after), Barker sounds like a goyish name, making her the most despicable of non-Jews: A SHIKSE.

The Haredim were right to spit on her. Imagine, a dirty, no-good, blonde, Jew-tempting SHIKSE reporting on legitimate Haredi protests against Jewish blasphemers who desecrate the Holy Sabbath.

Lucky for Barker it was only spit.

[Hometown Postville]

One word sums up this behavior: HATRED. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the most universally taught concept of ALL religions "love?" Incidents like this makes those men look no better than a bunch of marauding nomads looking for a fight just to flaunt their manhood. No woman should have to fear this kind of crudeness! Would they have treated children the same?

[R]

It's very sad that the charedim on that side of the world are a bunch of loons who need to be put in an asylum, but anne barker is a journalist and had to make her ordeal reader worthy. So that could include a few adjectives added in for good measure and the fear factor....i must say she does sound like she does her job well.
But i would take it all with a pinch of saliva...sorry i meant salt.

[MisterApikoros]

Correction:

I saw Ms. Barker's photograph on "Vos iz Neias." She isn't a blonde; she's brunette.

While most of the comments condemned the behavior by the frumbags, there was a significant minority who said that Barker was wrong because she's a woman and "offended" cultural mores. This is akin to saying the civil rights demonstrators who marched in Selma, Alabama and other places, and who were beaten and in a few cases murdered for their actions, were wrong because they were "interlopers."

That Rosa Parks. What nerve she had sitting in the front of a bus!

Where's the Charedi version of Bull Connor when we really need him?

[Dr. Dave]

Have you ever seen Christianna Amanpour or any other western female journalist reporting from the arab world in western accoutrement?

Of course not. They all have their hair covered and are in modest dress.

While I don't condone the nonsensical behavior of the chareidim, put things in perspective.

Things are much worse in the arab countries.

[A. Nuran]

Oh please!!!

Really, the poor lady needed a brolly and a mac. Imagine that, getting wet.
Dave, you have got to stop smoking that Mexican rope before you go to work. It's making you crazy.

If a bunch of Arabs surrounded a Jew and started spitting on her your blood pressure would hit triple digits. She suffered a disgusting, humiliating, traumatizing attack by a bunch of raving fanatics. But since she's a Gentile and they were Jews all you can do is reflexively sneer at her.

Disgusting.

She works for ABC a strongly left wing anti Israel station. She obviously has an axe to grind with the IDF.
"Strongly left wing" my ass. If you stopped drinking the Rove-flavored Kool Aid and unwrapped your lips from Limbaugh's tiny little cigar for a few moments you'd realize how ridiculous that is. Take any important issue - health care, banking regulation, "offshoring" and "downsizing", Iraq, Afghanistan, the stolen election of 2000, Diebold, the 1872 Mining Act and a hundred others. ABC has been firmly in the conservative establishment's camp.

She should try reporting from Saudi Arabia and see if she just gets wet or gets dead.
What the hell?

She was attacked by a bunch of religious fanatics and reported the facts as they happened to her. But because they're your personal clique she's at fault for the whole thing? And the existence of other fanatics somewhere else makes whatever her attackers did alright?

How did you get all the way to a doctorate without even mastering the rudiments of logic?

Or try North Korea and spend the rest of her life in jail.

What does this have to do with anything? She was in Israel going about her legal business with the approval of the Israeli government. She filed a story that you don't like. That means she is the same as a couple of reporters who entered North Korea illegally?

There's something fundamentally wrong with you, friend.

[Dr. Dave]

AN

You need to stop drinking the kool aid.

I was just stating that no matter how grossly unjustified the occurence in Israel was things are wrose elsewhere and I am tired of everyone calling Israel the new apartheid/nazi state.

The chareidim (no I am not one) were wrong.

But stop villifying Israel!!!

And unlike you i have an open mind.

I am not republican nor conservative, but libretarian.

You on the other hand are a name calling moron. I will stand up to your logical falacies, to your cavils and calumnies (take your time imbecile, I'll wait while you look up the words).

It's called defense, something that asinine lockstep liberals like you wish to deny to the state of Israel.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Run for your life, II (apologies: The Beatles):

Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be a female reporter
You better keep your head, little girl
Or I won't know I'm retarded

chorus:
You better run from black hats if you can, little girl
Hide your head in in a mat little girl
Catch you with a pad and pen
That's the end'a little girl

Well you know that you're a wicked goy
And I was born with a peabrained mind
And I can spend my whole life
Trying just to toe the rebbe's line

chorus

Let this be a drasha
I mean everything I've said
Baby, I'm a rasha
'cause I'd rather see you dead

chorus

I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to have another man's spit
You better keep your head, little girl
Or I'll throw a diaper of sh*t

chorus

Nu, nu, nu (4x)

[MisterApikoros]

A. Nuran:

I believe Dr. Dave was being sarcastic. He doesn't have any more use for the frumbags than I do, and my position on Charedim has been made quite clear.

[Ben]

These evil Santas are awaikening the beast of old anti-semitism. We all are going to suffer the consequences of their despicable actions.

[Dr. Dave]

Thank you for using your brain MA.

What I took issue with was the snide manner in which the reporter described the IDF and the acceptance of offhanded negative remarks about Israel as matter of course.

[dovid]

I found this statement of the reporter also of interest:
"Israeli police in their flak jackets and helmets, with rifles and shields, were yelling just as loudly back at the protesting crowd.

For once I found them something of a reassurance against the angry, spitting mob." so she never found the israeli police reassuring. does she find plo and hammas reassuring?

[MisterApikoros]

Too bad they were only yelling. They should have beaten the crap out of them.

[MisterApikoros]

Dr. Dave:

If my only exposure to Israel and Israelis were these charedi jerks, I'd be plenty anti-Israel myself.

Fortunately, the Charedi comprise only 10% of Israeli Jews, which is IMHO 10% too many. They should all be deported back to Boro Park and Williamsburg.

[Ben]

Dr.Dave this woman raised my suspicions regarding her objectivity as well. The implication of Israeli police always being on the wrong side and for once being half way right was unsettling.

I don't know whether or not she embellished her "spit story", but even one spit from men claiming to be especially pios is one too many.

[MisterApikoros]

Why would anyone have difficulty believing this woman? The Haredim of Jerusalem were shown a couple weeks ago throwing feces-filled diapers at police and at counter-protesters. Nobody disputes this. Why would spitting on a woman be prohibited while throwing excrement at a man be OK?

OK, she isn't exactly a Zionist. Who'd blame her?

[Bethel]

The worst is to be spat at by young male children-what on earth must they be teaching them?????

[Radical Feminist]

Why would anyone have difficulty believing this woman?
Goodppoint, after all, women are not reliable witnesses even in their own assualts, according to the Talmmud, wonder who invented that rule? Gee maybe the kind of people who spit at female reporters doing their jobs?

[mkarpas]

Mr. Apikoros writrs.

"The Haredim of Jerusalem were shown a couple weeks ago throwing feces-filled diapers at "

There are about 200,000 haredim in jerusalem. I dare you to show me evidence that 20000 haredim tossed diapers at any one.

Thats like saying
The Environmentalist of the United Sates were shown a counple of months ago to have committed arson(all 70-100 million of them) becuase a group of violent individuals who espoused the environmental cuases set fire to a housing development.

[kathiego]

You would think that reporters, by now, would realize what they are up against. You can't just waltz into a group of charedi men and then all of a sudden like "oopsie" pull out your video camera, tape recorder, microphone, or even cell phone and think they will just like stand and pose for you to take their picture and listen to them scream and NOT think they will notice your arm moving and then turn on YOU. Nope not going to happen. So next time have a good map, maybe a local guide, dress appropriately and have a HIDDEN camera and tape recorder. :) Have yourself an escape route and next time you might want to think about sending a man. Men don't usually get bothered as much as women do.

[Radical Feminist]

The worst is to be spat at by young male children-what on earth must they be teaching them?????

Why how to assault a woman without touching her of course. That is what the spitting was for, it was a sneute assault.

[A. Nuran]

My apologies, Dr. Dave. It's been a brutal week. I'm not at my best.

[p. o'brian]

I chanced upon this site by mistake. After browsing through it i must say all of you are a bunch of bitter bored souls who should be ashamed of the way you bash your own people, as if they are not bashed enough by outsiders