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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it    
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`You shouldn`t touch Jews!`
Photo: Dorit Jordan Dotan
Email report from dorit.jordan@gmail.com

At around three o,clock on Monday, at Kiryat Moshe on Shushan Purim, we were standing at the light train station waiting for a train. Across the street, waiting for the train in the opposite direction, was an Arab woman wearing a headscarf.

I did not see what started the disturbance, but suddenly there was shouting. A group of three or four religious young women (from what I could see of how they were dressed) and the Arab woman were shouting at each other. Suddenly one of the Jewish women punched the Arab woman, and the rest of the Jewish women started to hit and shove her as well. The Arab woman began to fight back, and the Jewish women as a group began to beat her in earnest. The Jewish women kicked the Arab woman and tore off her headscarf. The train guard stood right by them with a smile on his face, and did absolutely nothing. A man that had been standing next to the Arab woman waiting for the train tried to break up the fight, and tried to hold the Arab woman back. One of the Jewish women began shouting, `You shouldn`t touch Jews! Since when do you touch Jews?!`


The photographer had been shooting all of this from the moment of the first punch, when a Hasidic young man tried to block her view and stop her from photographing. When he was told to move, and was reminded that the photographer had every right to take pictures, he answered, `This isn`t her (the Arab woman`s) place, she shouldn`t be here.`

The Jewish women simply walked away. The Arab woman was furious as she tried to cover her head again. I walked across the street to see if she was hurt. She cursed and shouted at the young women, who had by now disappeared. I asked the train guard, who was now standing right in front of me, why he had just stood there and done nothing when a train passenger was being attacked by passersby. He refused to answer me , and would not even acknowledge me. No one at the train stop - the overwhelming majority religious Jews (again, recognizable by their clothing), seemed in any way bothered.

Dorit Jordan Dotan
Multidisciplinary Artist

http://www.doritjordan.com
T. 972-4-8667776 M. 972-544-821980


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