Haredi parties Shas and the United Torah Judaism have responded to a request to bar them from the elections on the basis of excluding women from their party ticket: “The parties function, as demanded by the halacha (Jewish law), with clear segregation between men and women for reasons of modesty. Men have one role and women another role. This segregation does not exclude women, nor discriminate against them nor deem them less worthy than men.”
December 18th, 2012 at 1:55PM
“for reasons of modesty”
Interesting.
December 18th, 2012 at 1:59PM
JND: That’s their all-purpose term for women are disgusting creatures whose presence sickens us and who therefore must be kept hidden.
December 19th, 2012 at 6:44AM
But it IS a democracy! When I enter a polling booth on election day here, there are so many choices that I feel as if I am in Baskins and Robbins. The only difference is that in Baskin and Robbins you can ask for a taste before you make your final order. I wish there was a way to taste a political party before casting my vote.
December 19th, 2012 at 8:19AM
Janet: But however you choose, all those flavors are going to have to wheel and deal (messy mixed metaphor!) to form a coalition government. So, like Italy, you get a lot of election noise, a lot of cynical compromise and corruption, and very little change.