Israel detains women over prayer shawls

Ten women arrested at Jerusalem's Western Wall over religious garb that Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men. Last Modified: 11 Feb 2013 12:56 Tweet inShare0 Email Print Share Feedback

Silverman said the tradition barring women from wearing the shawls amounted to 'spitting on Sinai' [GALLO/GETTY]

Israeli police have detained 10 women at one of Judaism's holiest sites for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men, authorities confirm. Among those detained on Monday at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City was Susan Silverman, a reform rabbi who is a sister of the famous US comedian Sarah Silverman, and her teenage daughter, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld has said. Two other US citizens and Israeli members of "Women of the Wall", a group that campaigns for gender equality in religious practice, were also detained. The group routinely convenes for monthly prayer sessions at the Western Wall, revered by Jews as a perimeter wall of the Biblical Temple in Jerusalem. Some of its members have been detained by police in the past for wearing prayer shawls at the site and released without charge. The Western Wall is administered under strict Orthodox ritual law, which bars women from wearing the religious garb or publicly reading from the holy scriptures. 'High Court' ruling Rosenfeld said the women had acted "against regulations set by the High Court", citing a decision of a decade ago upholding Orthodox rules at the site to avoid tension between worshippers. The incident highlighted the divisions between the more liberal branches of Judaism and politically powerful Orthodox groups that traditionally limit the role of women in prayer. Susan Silverman, who immigrated to Israel from Boston, said police escorted the group to a station after they refused to remove prayer shawls. She said in a telephone interview from the police station where the group was held that they had been among more than 100 women attending the hour-long prayer session. "They [police] said 'take off your prayer shawls', and we said 'no'," Silverman said. Once the prayers were over they were escorted away, Silverman said. Silverman also said the Orthodox tradition barring women from wearing prayer shawls amounted to "spitting on Sinai", naming the site where the Bible says God handed the ancient Israelite leader Moses the 10 Commandments. "All Jews are in a covenant with God," regardless of their gender, she said.

Israel detains women over prayer shawls

The Western Wall is administered under strict Orthodox ritual law, which bars women from wearing the religious garb or publicly reading from the holy scriptures.  

'High Court' ruling

Rosenfeld said the women had acted "against regulations set by the High Court", citing a decision of a decade ago upholding Orthodox rules at the site to avoid tension between worshippers.

The incident highlighted the divisions between the more liberal branches of Judaism and politically powerful Orthodox groups that traditionally limit the role of women in prayer.

Susan Silverman, who immigrated to Israel from Boston, said police escorted the group to a station after they refused to remove prayer shawls.

She said in a telephone interview from the police station where the group was held that they had been among more
than 100 women attending the hour-long prayer session.

"They [police] said 'take off your prayer shawls', and we said 'no'," Silverman said. Once the prayers were over they were escorted away, Silverman said. 

Silverman also said the Orthodox tradition barring women from wearing prayer shawls amounted to "spitting on Sinai", naming the site where the Bible says God handed the ancient Israelite leader Moses the 10 Commandments.

"All Jews are in a covenant with God," regardless of their gender, she said.

Sperm smuggling alleged at terror prison

Nablus, West Bank (CNN) -- Dalal al-Ziben holds her son and kisses his head. Al-Ziben never thought she would have another baby considering her husband has been inside an Israeli prison for 16 years and will likely never get out.

"When they arrested my husband I was 18 years old," she says.

As is expected from her in conservative Palestinian society she says she has been faithful to her husband. She has simply been waiting, hoping her husband may one day be released from incarceration.

It hasn't happened and likely never will because he is serving 27 life sentences and an additional 25 years for helping plan a deadly bombing in a Jerusalem market. An act of violence she says he has admitted to.

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are not allowed conjugal visits, but some Israeli prisoners are. The man convicted of assassinating Israel's Prime Minister Yitzah Rabin was allowed conjugal visits.

Al-Ziben says she got pregnant by her husband because he managed to have his sperm smuggled out of a high security prison.

"Why does the wife of a prisoner have to suffer and stay like this without children and a family? It is our right to meet our husbands and our right to have children," Al-Ziben says.

If I can do anything to help these women I will do it
Dr. Abu Khaizaran

The mother-of-two is one of five Palestinian women making the same claim. In an examination room Rimah Silawi, 32, stares at the tiny black dot on the baby monitor as the technician tells her she is one month pregnant.

Her husband is also serving multiple life sentences and she too says she received In Vitro fertilization using sperm smuggled from inside an Israeli prison.

She and the other women will tell you all about their babies, but not a word about how exactly their husband's semen was smuggled out of a high security Israeli prison leaving enough time for the semen to still be considered viable.

"I'm not going to tell so I won't ruin it for other people," Rimah Silawi whispers in response to our question.

The Razan Medical Center for Fertility and IVF in the West Bank town of Nablus is performing the artificial inseminations. Doctors say they have dozens of samples they are told are from prisoners.

The samples come in at all hours of the day and night and are handed over in all sorts of containers according to the doctors who tell us some samples are viable while others have to be thrown away.

"A lot of things, many things maybe in cups, in ointment containers," Dr. Salim Abu Khaizaran, the head of the fertility center, says while describing the methods used by the prisoners.

While doctors at the center say they can't verify the sperm is actually from their husbands in prison, they require close relatives from both the wife and husband's side of the family to sign papers saying the sperm belongs to the husband in prison.

Dr. Abu Khaizaran also encourages the women to spread word of their plans to use artificial insemination in their community so they do not face ridicule or more sinister repercussions if they are suspected of cheating on their imprisoned husbands.

"We are a male dominated society, we are an eastern society. Our women, whose husbands have been given long sentences, they have no choice but to wait for their husbands to get freed and as you know the female productive life is really limited," Dr. Abu Khaizaran says.

The doctor claims prisoner's wives face this dilemma because they will never have children or more children if their husbands are imprisoned for life, and if they do get out it may be too late to conceive and the husbands may even leave them for another woman who can.

He says he has seen the latter happen.

"Really the one who pays the price the heavy price is the woman. If I can do anything to help these women I will do it," the doctor says.

He and his staff are giving prisoners wives the fertility treatment for free, calling it an act of humanity.

Israeli prison officials say they doubt the validity of the women's story. A spokesperson for the Israeli Prison Authority told us officials very much doubt the technical ability for sperm donation because of the strict controls and security inside the prisons. They said it was hard to fathom, but "who knows?"

Fertility specialists in the U.S. told us it is actually possible for sperm to survive anywhere from a few hours to up to 48 hours in clean unconventional containers if kept at room temperature.

The women say what is most important to them is that they and their families and communities know the truth.

They still hope, one day, sperm smuggling from prison won't be necessary either because their husbands will be allowed to come home or the prison system will allow conjugal visits.

U.S. official: Israeli jets strike convoy in Syria

(CNN) -- Israeli fighter jets struck a Syrian convoy suspected of moving weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

Fighter jets struck the vehicles because they were carrying SA-17 missile parts, a Russian-made, medium-range delivery system, and other equipment that could have been used to attack Israel, another source told CNN.

Lebanon's state-run NNA news agency dismissed the report. "The news circulated by media about an Israeli raid on the Lebanese-Syrian borders are sheer rumors," it said.

Syria, meanwhile, reported an Israeli strike targeting a research facility near the capital city of Damascus. State-run media said the attack killed two workers and injured five others.

"Israeli warplanes penetrated our airspace at dawn today and directly bombed one of the scientific research centers responsible for raising the level of resistance and self-defense in the area of Jimraya in the Damascus countryside," the military said in a statement aired on state-run TV Wednesday. "This comes after multiple failed attempts over months by terrorist groups to enter and seize the mentioned site."

It was not certain whether the U.S. and Syrian accounts of Israeli attack referred to the same or different incidents.

Syria warns Israel of 'surprise' retaliation

Michael Eisenstadt, an ex-US military analyst, discusses Wednesday's Israeli air raid outside Damascus

Syria has threatened to retaliate for an Israeli air attack while its ally Iran says there will be repercussions for Israel over the attack. Ali Abdul-Karim Ali, the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, said in Damascus on Thursday that Syria "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation". Ali said he could not predict when Syria would retaliate. It was up to the relevant authorities to prepare the retaliation and choose the time and place, he told Al Ahad, a website of Hezbollah, the Lebanese group closely allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran. It is unclear what the exact nature of the target of Wednesday's Israeli air raids was. Syrian state media said the attacks targeted a military research centre near the Syrian capital, while regional security sources told the Reuters and AP news agencies that the target was a convoy of lorries allegedly carrying anti-aircraft missiles for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Syrian military has denied the existence of any weapons shipment.

Syria: Israel bombed research facility

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2013/01/31/seg-syria-airstrike-claim.cnn

Iran, Syria warn of retribution for Israeli airstrike

(CNN) -- Shouting condemnation and promises of retaliation, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah on Thursday condemned Israel's decision to send warplanes into Syria, calling its airstrike a day before "inhuman" and "barbaric."

Russia also condemned Wednesday's attack, saying it would represent an unprovoked violation of United Nations charter if confirmed.

Syria's Foreign Ministry summoned the commander of U.N. forces in the Golan Heights on Thursday to formally complain about the incident, while Iran's deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, warned the attack would have "dire consequences" for Israel, according to Iran's semiofficial Mehr News Agency.

Just last week, Abdollahian warned that Iran would consider any attack on Syria as an attack on itself, Mehr reported at the time.

Syria confirms Israeli airstrike

Michael Eisenstadt, a former analyst for the US military, spoke to Al Jazeera about the recent events in Syria

The Syrian army has confirmed that Israeli jets crossed into Syria below radar level at dawn and carried out airstrikes against military targets. It is unclear, however, what the exact nature of the target of Wednesday's air strikes was. Syrian state media said that the strikes targeted a military research centre near Damascus, while regional security sources told the Reuters and AP news agencies that the target was a convoy of trucks allegedly carrying anti-aircraft missiles for Hezbollah in Lebanon. "Israeli fighter jets violated our airspace at dawn today and carried out a direct strike on a scientific research centre in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence," the army's general command said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA on Wednesday evening. The strike came "after terrorist groups made several failed attempts in the past months to take control of the site," the statement added, using the term President Bashar al-Assad's government uses for rebel fighters. The jets entered the Syrian airspace via Mount Hermon, or Jabal el-Sheikh in Arabic, the army said. "They... carried out an act of aggression, bombarding the site, causing large-scale material damage and destroying the building," state television quoted the military as saying. The army added that two site workers were killed in the strike, and five others wounded.