Buffoonery and Courage

This past week was dotted with news about women, covering the spectrum from inspiring to nauseating. The prize for providing the easiest material for purimspiel goes to Ms. Esterina Tartman, a fairly unknown Knesset member from the right-wing, often racist Yisrael Beiteinu party - until last week. In addition to sporting a name that begs spoofing, the now infamous Tartina (as she is affectionately known by her fellow members of Knesset) stood to be appointed Minister of Tourism after Yizhak Herzog, who previously held the post, was transferred (under duress) to the Ministry of Welfare. As a professional whose livelihood is often directly affected by the policy set by the Tourism Minister, I and many of my colleagues were extremely disappointed to see Herzog's tenure in the position cut short, as he is an energetic, creative and earnest politician who had already managed to initiate significant changes in the ministry. However, I am certain that the poor and downtrodden of Israel represented by the Welfare Ministry are in far more dire need of a good bulldozer, so must of us wish him well there.

Up next for the job, according to the coalition agreement, was a member of Yisrael Beitenu and Tartman was chosen by the head of the party. Esterina fits the mold of a certain kind of Israeli politician that rubs many of us the wrong way: she has a big mouth, generous amounts of self-confidence and she frequently makes provocative (in this case racist) statements in the media to call attention to herself. Often this prototype of public figure is endowed with sophisticated street smarts but is frequently uneducated. In this case Tartman claimed to have a BA from Bar Ilan University in finance and accounting and an MBA, but a check by an Israeli journalist revealed that she had neither. In addition, due to a car accident she suffered ten years ago she was granted disability on the basis of not being able to work more than four hours a day due to her inability to concentrate. Amidst the current witchhunt for corrupt politicians Esterina didn't stand a chance, but instead of disappearing from the scene as quietly as possible she launched a biting attack on the media, accusing them of persecuting her for her political opinions. The position was finally assigned to someone else but she went down kicking and screaming. How distasteful...

In great contrast, last week the papers published the story of the revolt of the Abu Ghanem women of Ramle. Tragically, the phenomenon of family honor killings is alive and well in the Arab community of Israel. This tribal doctrine calls for the murder of a woman who has ostensibly disgraced the good name of her family by her father or brother. (The book 'Forbidden Love' paints a horrific picture of this barbaric custom even though it was publicized as a true story and ultimately revealed to be fiction.) Unbelievably, there are still many Arabs who live alongside us, in a state of law and order in the 21st century, who consider a family's reputation to be more important than the lives of its daughters. Several times a year the news reports of yet another honor killing but these crimes are almost never prosecuted because of the conspiracy of silence in the Arab communities. Not only are Arab women party to the silence, but often they, themselves, see no moral problem in this custom.

Last week the silence was broken by the women of the Abu Ghanem clan, who have lost nine women in family honor killings in the past six years. Talking on the phone, laughing at a man and turning down a match were among the excuses given by their murderers, who are usually their own brothers. Often a woman knows she is to be murdered but no one will help her. Without the cooperation of members of the community the Israeli police are virtually helpless to act - they have no witnesses, no testimony and no suspects.

This time, however, a group of over twenty women turned to the police and offered their cooperation. Arab women in Israel suffer numerous dimensions of discrimination as Arabs, as women and as Arab women; the Israeli police are not necessarily the first body to which they turn when they need assistance. However, their terrible desperation at being trapped in a cycle of cruel violence forced them to make a very dangerous and dramatic move. We can assume that their personal safely will only deteriorate in light of their cooperation with the police; in fact, this is only the first step in a long, uphill battle to eradicate this primitive, misogynistic custom. Our support of these women is often seen as unwelcome interference but we are obligated to do whatever is in our power to come to their assistance.