Israeli morality ushers in a new Iran.

If some of the hard-line Orthodox Jews get their way, it will be. No longer will it solely be the Islamic world that many secular progressives deride for their treatments and oppression of womens' rights. In a country that makes no qualms about maintaining heavily theocratic leanings, Israel is risking alienating itself from the rest of the world that views religious-supported oppression ans a dismal and disturbing trend.

Just as Iran has Morality Police, so is Israel following in their place. TA first the Morality Police of Iran were not officially sanctioned, but over the years the volunteer forces' grip of fear and control began to bleed into the official government. Now, the Morality Police is a legitimate wing of the official Iranian Police Forces.

Each step that Israel allows vigilante morality enforcement they come closer and closer to becoming a mirror image of their hated extremist Islamic neighbor.

In Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where the rule of law sometimes takes a back seat to the rule of God, zealots are on a campaign to stamp out behavior they consider unchaste. They hurl stones at women for such "sins" as wearing a red blouse and attack stores selling devices that can access the Internet.

In recent weeks, self-styled "modesty patrols" have been accused of breaking into the apartment of a Jerusalem woman and beating her for allegedly consorting with men. They have torched a store that sells MP4 players, fearing devout Jews would use them to download pornography.

"These breaches of purity and modesty endanger our community," said 38-year-old Elchanan Blau, defending the bearded, black-robed zealots. "If it takes fire to get them to stop, then so be it."
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews are dismayed by the violence, but the enforcers often enjoy quiet approval from rabbis eager to protect their own reputations as guardians of the faith, community members say. And while some welcome anything that keeps secular culture out of their cloistered world, others feel terrorized, knowing that the mere perception of impropriety could ruin their lives.

"There are eyes and ears all over the place, very similar to what you hear about in countries like Iran," says Israeli-American novelist Naomi Ragen, an observant Jew who has chronicled the troubles that confront some women living in the ultra-Orthodox world.

The police chief in Tehran recently warned that anybody caught involved in what he called social corruption would be punished, the BBC's regional analyst Sadeq Saba says.

Reports from other major cities suggest that similar harsh measures are being adopted there, he adds.

In the historic city of Isfahan, police recently banned women who were improperly veiled from entering public places, the country's official news agency Irna reported.

It said police in the city also banned the playing of live music in reception halls and at public events.

Since February's victory, Iran's conservatives have been putting pressure on the authorities to fight what they call the erosion of Islamic values, our analyst says.

The hardliners are angry that women are progressively defying the rules by wearing shorter, tighter and brighter coats, especially during the scorching summer months.
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Israel police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the modesty police are not an organized phenomenon, just rogue enforcers carrying out isolated attacks. But Israel's Justice Ministry used the term "modesty patrols" in an indictment against a man accused of assaulting the Jerusalem woman.

The unidentified, 31-year-old woman had left the ultra-Orthodox fold after getting divorced, according to the indictment filed by the Jerusalem district attorney's office. The indictment said her assailant tried to get her to leave her apartment in a haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem by gagging, beating and threatening to kill her. He was paid $2,000 for the attack, it said.

A 17-year-old who moved to Israel from New York five years ago said she was hospitalized after being attacked with pepper spray by a crowd of men outraged that she was walking down a Jerusalem street with boys.

"They can burn in hell," said the girl, who would identify herself only as Rivka.

She lives in Beit Shemesh, a town outside Jerusalem where the vigilantism has been particularly violent. Zealots there have thrown rocks and spat at women, and set fire to trash bins to protest impiety. Walls of the neighborhood are plastered with signs exhorting women to dress modestly — spelled out as closed-necked, long-sleeved blouses and long skirts.

Women who refuse to wear a veil and otherwise adhere to the strict Islamic dress code will be banished from the capital for up to five years, authorities threatened yesterday after launching a new coverup campaign.

The frightening warning comes as police are carrying out their toughest crackdown in 20 years on young women who do not abide by Islamic law, which requires them to cover their face and hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothing to conceal their figures.

The possibility of exile to the Iranian hinterlands comes on top of stepped-up enforcement of existing penalties for flouting the clothing rules that include lashes, fines and imprisonment.

Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi told an Iranian newspaper that if the current punishments are not effective in preventing women from showing some skin, those who repeatedly violate the law could be expelled from Tehran for five years.
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The state, catering to religious sensitivities, subsidizes gender-segregated bus routes that service religious neighborhoods. Ragen and several other women challenged the practice in Israel's Supreme Court after an Orthodox Canadian woman in her 50s told police she was kicked, slapped, pushed to the floor and spat upon by men for refusing to move to the back of the bus.

Another Beit Shemesh girl, who asked to be identified only as Esther, said zealots threw rocks, cursed and spat at a friend for wearing a red blouse — taboo because the color attracts attention.

Yitzhak Polack, a 50-year-old Jerusalem teacher, is one of those who deplore such behavior.

"They are stupid troublemakers who are bringing shame and disgrace on this holy community," he said.

But the rabbis are afraid to condemn them, says Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, another community member.

"They can't come out against zealots who champion modesty. Here and there they write against violence, but the militants ultimately set the tone," he said.

Iran's latest crackdown on women who do not strictly observe rules on Islamic dress has found an unlikely critic in the head of its judiciary, press reports have said.

Iran has issued 3,500 warnings nationwide and detained about 200 women in the new drive launched on Saturday, according to police figures quoted by local media.
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who is appointed by the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned police against heavy-handed actions with women found to have broken the country's dress code.
The reformist Etemad Melli newspaper quoted Shahroudi as saying: "Hauling women and young people to the police station will have no use except to cause damage to society.

"Tough measures on social problems will backfire and have counter-productive effects.

"Of course, we need to act against organised crime and thugs but when there is no necessity to take someone to a police station, there is no need to do it
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In August, a Jerusalem man was placed under house arrest on suspicion he set fire to a store in a haredi district of the city that sold MP4 players.

"It started about six months ago. They would come into the store, about 15 of them at a time, screaming, 'This store burns souls!' and they would throw merchandise on the floor and threaten customers," said 31-year-old Aaron Gold, a haredi worker at the Space electronic store.

One Friday night, just before the Sabbath was about to begin, "they smashed a window, doused the place with gasoline and lit a match," Gold said.

Now, a big sign behind the counter says, "All products sold in this store are under rabbinical supervision. By order of the rabbis, no MP4s are sold here."

Clothing stores that sell clothes regarded as provocative have been vandalized, and bleach thrown at merchandise.
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