The Eight-Year Old That Woke Up Israel.

Aren't you just tired of hearing the same old stereotypes? I felt this to be a breath of fresh air that has graced the media. This video is reporting on the small Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, where there has been a conflict with the 'extremist' ultra-orthodox Jews that have been accused of harassing women. 

This specific case tells the story of an eight-year old girl, Naama Margolese, whom some men spat at and called a whore for 'not dressing modestly enough' on her way to school

Miriam Cooke argues that feminism is an ‘attitude, a frame of mind that highlights the role of gender in understanding the organisation of a society’. Indeed, feminism is a transnational movement that engages with the issues of human rights, women’s liberation and gender equality. 

And this is what exactly the "Naama-Case" has done! It has provoked the need for feminism in even the most "Western" nations in the world. This case is of the girl that has galvanised Israeli society and have encouraged discourse about gender equality, as well as revealing a deep uprooted social split in the country. 

Beit Shemesh in particular is a populated town of around 80,000 that now caters for a larger increase of immigrants, especially of American expatriates. The "Naama-Case" has also shown is the rising tensions between these two social groups.

But most importantly Naama is the girl that "woke up Israel" and since then there has been more recorded protests about the segregation of women in Israel. 

Below is an inspirational, female-only flash mob that took place in Beit Shemesh performing "Dont-Stop Me Now" by Queen. The choice of song seemed absolutely perfect to describe the women of the city from all different ages, sectors and religious backgrounds (traditional or secular) to gather together in the form of dance to speak out and fight for change. 

A group of women dancing in the West wouldn't be special. A group of women dancing in the conservative Beit Shemesh is. If they had done this in Sanaa or Riyadh or even Tehran, it would be even more special. Women all over the world are anxious to see some progress for the Eastern women to escape the shackles of the stigma as being the lesser or defective to men.

The Toulouse Shootings Explained - AGAIN

"In the face of such an event France can only be strong if there is a national unity. We owe it to the victims of these cold-blooded assassinations. We owe it to our country”. Nicolas Sarkozy, urges the people of France to join together to mourn the death of seven people in Toulouse and Montauban. He then compared the ‘traumatism’ that France has suffered directly to the US and New York terrorist attacks after 11th of September 2001. Yet, in such a politically charged environment, and in a country with social, religious and racial tensions many are posing the question is national unity even a possibility? The first attack occurred on the 11th of March 2012, when Sergeant Imad Ibn-Ziaten (a Muslim French paratrooper) was shot dead outside a gym in Toulouse. The second attack followed on the 15th of March 2012, where two uniformed soldiers Abel Chennouf and Mohamed Legouad were killed in a shopping centre in Montauban. The last attack in the series took place on the 19th March 2012 at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish day school, where the victims Rabbi Jonathan Sandler and his two sons Gavriel, 3 years old, and Aryeh, 6 years old, and the headmaster’s daughter Miriam Monsonego, 8 years old, were shot in the head at close range.

These events were claimed by French officials to be the biggest manhunt in France in recent years. It was established that these incidents were the work of the same man that used the same gum, rode the same 500cc Yamaha scooter, and acted with the same cold-hearted brutality. The police later then identified the perpetrator as Mohammed Merah, a 23 year old of Algerian extraction, is said to have wanted to “teach France a lesson”. Some sources claim that he was religiously inspired by Al-Qaeda to attack, others state that it was a political cause and that he wanted to avenge Palestinian children, and attack the French army because of its foreign interventions. Yet, the religious reasoning is not sufficient as he attacked symbols: the army, and he kills Jews, Christians and Muslims without distinctions. People around his neighborhood also described his character as quiet, easy-going and nothing at all like an “extremist Jihadi Salafist”. Even Sarkozy argued: “The Islamic faith has nothing to do with the insane motivations of this man". Merah said that he was motivated by France's ban on wearing the burqa, that "the Jews have killed our brothers and sisters in Palestine”. Dan Bilefsky, a Parisian news correspondent interestingly linked Merah’s anger to the unemployment and alienation of immigrants in France, as Merah attempted to join the French army and was rejected due to his ‘petty’ crimes. Rosie DiManno, reduced his motivation to Merah being a sociopath who adopted a terror agenda as a cover for his pre-existing rage and who sought "posthumous grandeur."

Marine La Penn who ran for the right-wing anti-immigration National Front Party (who won 20% of French vote in the recent elections) stated: “the rush of fundamentalism has been underestimated in our country. Certain political and religious groups are developing in the face of certain laxness”. So what did the Merah’s actions represent? What were the roots behind these attacks, and to what extent did politics and politicians instigate them? How did this incident relate to or affect the French election campaign? After a two-day suspension of the campaign, the political atmosphere in France changed as the focus shifted ‘further to the right’. The campaign introduced more discussion for insecurity, immigration, Islamism, anti-Semitism and of Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine. Precisely where Sarkozy is comfortably at ease. In a broader context how did these shootings reflect on the new rise ‘harmful anti-multiculturalism’ rhetoric in Europe? As exampled from the Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Breivik whose terrorist attacks killed 77 people due to his strong anti-immigration opinions.

After a 30-hour siege, on the 22nd of March, Mohammed Merah was shot dead in a gun- fight with the French special operations tactical unit in his own home. This controversial figure may have been killed, but with his death arise many questions surrounding the future of France’s deep social divisions and issues that can no longer be ignored.

When I feel hatred for men, I turn to Nawal el-Saadawi.....

“All the men I did get to know, every single man of them, has filled me with but one desire: to lift my hand and bring it smashing down on his face.” - Nawal El Saadawi