At first glance, I figured I’d be amused, but I was quickly sickened by what I read in Ha’aretz today. A female American tourist was riding a bus to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and when a gang of Haredi men ordered her to the back of the bus, she refused. She was subsequently spat upon, smacked, punched, had her headcovering pulled off, and was even kicked in the face when she was down. The bus driver didn’t help, and most of the passengers cursed at her and called her a “stupid American.”
These men felt it was fine to beat the crap out of a woman, but not to sit in the same section of the bus with her. And the whole rest of the bus thought they were justified. Is Israel all it’s cracked up to be by its American adulators?
To their credit, Israelis and Jews around the world chimed in with plain disgust in Ha’aretz’s comments section, many calling for an end to the welfare bummitude of Israel’s sidecurled class, who don’t work, don’t serve in the Army, and have gigantic litters of children for which they get gobs of money mugged from Israeli taxpayers (not to mention American taxpayers). It’s worth a read.
Meanwhile, American Jews should think twice before spending money in a place where people have such low opinions of them, especially considering how much Israel owes its existence to American Jews and their massive, steady flow of investment and charity dollars.