25 Jan 2012

Israeli 'immodest dressed' woman attacked by crowd of ultra-Orthodox men

A woman was attacked in her car in Beit Shemesh Tuesday by ultra-Orthodox extremists - the latest in a series of incidents apparently sparked by what members of the town's Haredi community view as immodest dress.

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Ultra Orthodox Jews hold a placard that reads in Hebrew "segregate women" during a protest in the central town of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, on December 26, 2011.

A crowd of ultra-Orthodox men jumped on 27-year-old Natali Mashiah's car in the Haredi Ramat Beit Shemet Bet neighborhood, she said. Members of the crowd smashed her car windows and punctured her four tires before spilling bleach on the inside of her car, said the Beit Shemesh resident, adding that she believed the men were going to set her on fire. As she fled the car, she said she was hit on the head by a rock thrown from very close range.

Haaretz