THE HANDMAIDS AND THE MIARA BARRIER

 The silent parade of seemingly subjugated women garbed in crimson robes, heads bowed under white starched bonnets, has become an ominous fixture of the mass anti-government protests taking place all over the country. Women dressed as characters from Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, “The Handmaid's Tale,” and the eponymous TV series of the same name are assembling in ever growing numbers. The ‘handmaids’ are not an add-on devised to supplement the main protests, but an independent emphatic statement.

                            

The costume, which has come to symbolise the threat to women under male domination, has been used in protests elsewhere. American women opposing former President Donald Trump’s conservative Supreme Court nominees have donned the garb, as have Iranian women demonstrating in Britain in support of the protests in Iran, and Polish women calling to preserve abortion rights.

Our ‘handmaids’ are also getting noticed. Atwood herself has retweeted several posts about them.

Ever-increasing numbers of women are participating in the handmaids’ parades in an effort to ward off what they believe will be a dark future if the government follows through on its plan to overhaul the judiciary.

Locally too, in our valley communities, “handmaids” are assembling to join the protests.

 Simcha Rothman head of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee spearheading the judicial overhaul, claims the legal changes will only strengthen women's rights in Israel.

Moran Zer Katzenstein, who left a career in marketing for international brands to steer the protest, said that she wouldn't count on Rothman, a member of the Religious Zionist Party to protect her rights.

“The protest is not an exaggeration of where Israel might be headed as some have charged, but rather a warning light,” she said.

Another prominent woman has been making headlines in recent weeks. Yediot Aharonot’s weekend supplement put a photo of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on its cover page with the caption “The Miara Barrier” and a subheading describing how the leaders of the judicial overhaul have likened her rulings to a “red rag before a bull.”  Gali Baharav-Miara is the first woman to hold the office of Attorney General. Of late the A.G has become one of the most threatened persons in Israel. She is protected by numerous security guards who watch her every step. The Israel Police recently raised her level of protection to Level Six, the highest in its rankings.

To understand why, all one has to do is listen to the comments that are made about her by members of the governing coalition. This week, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for Baharav-Miara’s immediate dismissal after the attorney general wrote in a response to a court petition that Ben-Gvir's actions during protests against the government's judicial reforms raise "real concern" that he crossed the line in "attempting to intervene in the police’s independent discretion."

According to the attorney-general, on a number of occasions, the national security minister attempted to intervene in operational events taking place, exceeding his authority as defined by law. These include his announcement on March 9 of the decision to remove Tel Aviv Police Chief Ami Eshed from his post, just hours after criticising Eshed’s lenient handling of protests against the judicial reforms.

Ben-Gvir would love to sack the attorney general. In a letter he wrote to coalition leaders he said, "I am aware of the legal difficulty in firing her, but the damage the attorney general is causing grows greater by the day.”

A few weeks earlier Gali Baharav-Miara, known to be meticulously accurate regarding interpretation of the law, aroused the ire of Justice Minister Yariv Levin who threatened to fire her. Instead, realising that dismissing the attorney general is easier said than done, Levine said.” Other matters are more important, everything will be done in due time.”

Despite these repeated verbal threats and other anonymous physical threats, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara appears to be unperturbed.

A quick look at the list of her opponents reveals that most of them are lawyers.

However, I would list Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich in a class of their own - Shyster lawyers.

The New Yorker magazine described Ben Gvir as “Israel’s Minister of Chaos”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich deserves a similar title.

There was a furious exchange in the Knesset plenum yesterday, between opposition MKs and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir over his opposition to an electronic monitoring system to track domestic abusers.

The coalition defeated four related opposition bills empowering courts to order electronic tracking, to ensure restraining order compliance.

In an act of defiance, women from the opposition parties flashed personal electronic tracking devices.

Bonot Alternativa (Building an Alternative), the group behind the Handmaid’s Tale protests, has no plans to stop and its leaders have emphasised in interviews and on social media that the costumed demonstrations are not only a response to the proposed judicial reforms. The group’s leaders have stressed that they are also a protest against violence against women, such as murder and sexual assault, as well as many other forms of discrimination, including the divorce laws and sex-segregated public events. So even if a compromise is reached soon on the judicial reform, the women in red are likely to continue protesting.

This week I decided to put aside all other matters and dedicate the post to our women's struggle to attain equal rights.

I haven't forgotten that our enemies are still waiting for the right moment to attack, nonetheless, we haven’t dropped our guard.

According to foreign newsmedia sources Israel carried out airstrikes against several targets in Syria, namely at Damascus and Aleppo International Airports as well as other targets in the Latakia area, recently. All for a good purpose.

The Palestinian terrorist organisation Islamic Jihad claimed that one of its commanders had been shot dead “by agents of the Zionist enemy” outside his home near Damascus on Sunday morning.

The victim, Ali Ramzi al-Aswad, 31, was a member of the group’s Al-Quds Brigade armed wing. He was better known as the “Engineer” aka   the bombmaker.  

Before I sign off, I want to add that flag in hand, I went down to the road junction again this morning. No photo-ops this time.

 
Have a good weekend.

 

Beni,

                                    23^rd of March, 2023.