Ayalon had pictures. So did the kibbutz. Ayalon and Shaul Goldberg,
director of the kibbutz's archives, gathered the pictures and sent them
to the Philatelic Service. They were pictures of young women - including
herself - working in the factory making bullets, and pictures of young
women working in a laundry built above the bullet factory to help
camouflage it. But the response of the Philatelic Service shocked Ayalon. "Could you possibly find photos that feature fewer women with bare legs?"
Workers at the Ayalon Institute
Women’s Legs Too Much For Israel’s Postage Stamp Service
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Yehudit Ayalon is an 88-year-old founder of Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael.
A few weeks ago, she was reportedly contacted by the Israel Postal Service’s Philatelic Service. A new stamp was soon to be issued in honor of 100 years of manufacturing in Israel.
The Philatelic Service wanted to know if Ayalon had any old photographs from the Ayalon Institute – a secret ammunition factory located at the kibbutz. It operated in the years before the State of Israel was declared. Its bullets supplied the official pre-state Jewish milita, the Haganah. Ayalon worked there as a young woman and adopted its name as her own.
Ayalon had pictures. So did the kibbutz. Ayalon and Shaul Goldberg, director of the kibbutz's archives, gathered the pictures and sent them to the Philatelic Service. They were pictures of young women - including herself - working in the factory making bullets, and pictures of young women working in a laundry built above the bullet factory to help camouflage it.
But the response of the Philatelic Service shocked Ayalon.
"Could you possibly find photos that feature fewer women with bare legs?"
"The nerve! I couldn't contain myself and wrote about it in the kibbutz leaflet.…The words 'exclusion of women' and 'religious coercion' figured prominently in the letter - and that what the end of that. We didn't hear from them anymore,” she told Ha’aretz yesterday.
The head of the Philatelic Service, Yaron Ratzon, tried to explain why it was censoring historically accurate pictures of Israel’s birth showing women dressed as almost every young female kibbutznik dressed then – and as most still dressed into the 1970s.
"The Philatelic Service issues stamps dealing with various issues, while strictly observing that 50 percent of the figures on the stamps are women. It must be noted that the stamps, official symbols of the State of Israel, are sold in all post offices to all populations in a uniform fashion. Therefore we take special care that the issues, illustrations and photos do not insult the feelings of any segment of the population,” he told Ha’aretz.
In other words, the haredi minority and it’s constant threats of – and acts of –violence in response to having its “feelings” “insulted” is dictating how the majority of Israel sees its history, even on a one inch square postage stamp.