Tel Aviv (dpa) – The eight-year old Israeli girl at the center of a storm after Jewish religious extremists spat on her as she went to school, returned to studies Thursday, for the first time since her plight made headlines. Na'ama Margolis returned to her school in the city of Beit Shemesh along with her schoolmates, as classes resumed following a school holiday, and was met by Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar. She did not speak as she entered the school, but her mother, Hadassah, said that she hoped that “everything we did up to to now will lead to change.” “We will not bow to threats and hooliganism,” Sa'ar said, in remarks directed at the extremists. Na'ama became a national symbol of harassment of women by ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists, after a television report showed her being spat on by zealots who decided she was not dressed “modestly” enough. Na'ama herself comes from a religious family. Her hometown, a short drive west of Jerusalem, found itself in the eye of the religious storm – the focus of attempts by extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews to enforce their code of conduct on others, even including other religious Jews who do not meet their standards. The ultra-Orthodox conduct includes strict conservative dress, and rigid separation of the sexes, but here are different degrees of observance among religious Orthodox Jews. Clashes took place in Beit Shemesh Sunday and Monday, as the extremists tried to prevent city officials from removing a controversial sign requesting women to “vacate” the sidewalk outside an ultra-Orthodox synagogue and cross to the other side of the street. Two television crews were also attacked. Thousands of people attended a demonstration in Beit Shemesh on Tuesday night, protesting religious coercion. Na'ama's plight is only one of a series of incidents whereby religious extremists tried to enforce their code of conduct Two weeks ago Tanya Rosenblit made headlines – and became a heroine among moderate Israelis – when she refused a demand by an ultra-Orthodox passenger to move to the back of a bus, as is increasingly customary on lines serving that community. On Wednesday an ultra-religious Jew was arrested in Jerusalem after reportedly calling a female soldier a “slut” when she refused his demand to move to the back of a bus serving the ultra-Orthodox community. Women passengers on such bus lines may voluntarily sit at the back of the bus, but it is illegal to enforce this separation. On Thursday morning a woman lawmaker from the ruling Likud Party boarded one such bus, and demonstratively sat in the front. She was joined by two other lawmakers both male, one of them religious. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has also spoken out against religious coercion, told female graduates of the Israel Air Force's pilot course Thursday that “in Israel, where women can sit in a cockpit, they can sit anywhere.” BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/qVmnn Tags: Israel, School Girl, Spitting, Ultra-Orthodox Section: Latest News, Palestine, Religion
