Five women who initiated a court case against ultra-Orthodox signs in Beit Shemesh that called for women to dress modestly and not walk on some parts of the streets are now facing threats and harassment after the signs began coming down last week.
The court ruled the signs, which the justices say exclude women from the public sphere, must come down by December 18, and the municipality began removing them last week. But the five women who initiated the court case are now receiving harassing phone calls after their personal details were published on flyers and posted around Beit Shemesh. Violent protests broke out during the removals.
The city has had to deal with protesters placing new signs in areas where the municipality has already removed the old signs, like this altercation between a municipality worker and a protester in Beit Shemesh, on December 11, Philipp said she had received at least four phone calls from different people harassing her, including one from someone who had also tracked down her year-old daughter and called her as well.
The Pulsa Dinura ritual has a shadowy past in Jewish mysticism and Israeli politics. Philipp said she is not sure who is behind the messages and calls to intimidate the women. But, she said, rather than yell at the people on the other end of the phone, she has taken to inviting them over for coffee to talk about their differences, an offer thus far none of the harassers has decided to accept.
Philipp, a native of Canada who has been in Israel for more than 25 years, said the five-year court case taught her about the power of community organizing. But the research and community organizing that brought them to pursue the issue through the courts also sparked a discussion about free speech and personal rights in the public sphere. But Rozentzvaig said the court case has drawn unwelcome attention to Beit Shemesh and made it difficult for the city of , residents to attract national religious and secular residents to the new neighborhood of Neve Shamir, which was built for non-haredi families.
