Doron Matalon, a female soldier who tried to sit at the front of a public bus last week and who would not move to the back when Shlomo Fuchs told her to, deserved it, Fuchs reportedly said today. "She stood amidst the ultra-Orthodox men,” Fuchs said. “It’s the most basic concept: A woman should not stand amidst men, just like no woman would go into a man's bathroom. So I called her a slut."
Updated at 1:58 pm CST
Shut Your Mouth And Move To The Back You Uppity Little Woman
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
For many haredim, a woman’s place may not be exclusively in the kitchen and the bedroom, but it certainly isn’t at the front of a public bus – especially if she dares to open her mouth to defend another woman being harassed by a haredi male.
Shlomo Fuchs, a haredi man arrested last week for harassing Doron Matalon, a female soldier who tried to sit at the front of one such bus and who would not move to the back when Fuchs asked her to, now says Matalon deserved to be harassed because she intervened in argument Fuchs was having with another woman, Fuchs told Ynet today.
And even if he she hadn’t done that, according to Fuchs she deserved to be harassed anyway because she acted like a “slut.”
"She stood amidst the ultra-Orthodox men,” Fuchs said. “It’s the most basic concenpt: A woman should not stand amidst men, just like no woman would go into a man's bathroom. So I called her a slut."
Fuchs, who claims he only saw Matalon's head but not the rest of her body, described the incident this way:
…He was traveling from his home in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood [of Jerusalem] to a yeshiva in [the Jerusalem haredi neighborhood of] Mea Shearim last Tuesday when "some Russian woman stood by the men's seats at the front of the bus."
"I told her: 'Lady, you don't have to present a ticket if you have a monthly pass.' She said, 'Thank you very much, sir.' Suddenly I heard someone from the center of the bus saying, 'She'll stand wherever she pleases.' So I answered 'What business is it of yours?' I couldn't see who was speaking, because the bus was full. I only heard her voice. I didn’t see it was a soldier. I could only make out her head, and I yelled 'slut.'"
At this point, Fuchs claimed, Matalon said "Look at you; parasite; parasites, taking money from the State. I protect you."
"She protects me? I sit at shul from eight in the morning till midnight and study, and she's protecting me? I protect her," the ultra-Orthodox man told Ynet. "I understood who I was dealing with, so I went back to studying for my test and things calmed down."
However, Fuchs said, Matalon continued to argue. According to him, she said "these haredim do what they want. We will bring an end to it. Take him to the police."
Fuchs claimed he was not aware of the significance of the word "slut" in the secular world. "I am completely detached from the (secular world). I don’t own a television set and I never have newspapers in the house. People laughed at me because I don't have any idea what women's exclusion is and don't know what happened in Beit Shemesh," he said.
"I do not forgive (Matalon). She cannot give me the hours of studying that I lost; she cannot take away the fear that I have when I go out to the street. She shamed us all and made us out to be criminals," Fuchs said.
He claimed Israel Police had deliberately assigned female investigators to handle his case. "I always thought police were supposed to protect me, but I will never forgive them for the nightmare they made me go through. Yes, they harassed me only because I am haredi," Fuchs said. "This is a blood libel."
Asked about the controversial Holocaust display at a recent ultra-Orthodox rally in the capital, Fuchs said, "I sympathize with these feelings of persecution. They tried to present me as though I were the worst criminal in the world, and from this perspective it is just like the goyim treated the Jews for generations.
"Let me live in peace. I too sang "Hatikva" (national anthem) once. I want to be free in our land. Leave me be."
Ynet also reports that two female passengers on the bus, almost certainly haredi, claim Matalon was not the female soldier involved in the incident because the soldier involved “does not fit Matalon's description.”
[Hat Tip for the video: Shish.]