Kibuda Bat Melech Penima???? (or Is Her Home Life Really Honorable to Her?)

ב"ה

I recently read about a very worthy charity. It's called Bat Melech and it's a battered women's shelter for Orthodox women. These are women who live in communities where "abuse doesn't exist" at least on the outside. It's a community where battered women are told that it's their fault, that they are overreacting. It's a world where divorce isn't always a viable alternative and women who leave their husbands are often ostracized.

I was reading about this shelter, which I think is very important and I'm glad it's there, I was thinking about how much all this reminds me of Israel. If you substitute Israel for the battered women and the Arab countries for the abusive husband it fits right in.

In the Orthodox community many abused women, when they try to leave their abusive husbands, are told they did something wrong -- the wives didn't take care of their husbands well enough, or they didn't keep the house clean enough or didn't have his supper on the table or didn't keep the children quiet.

This "blame the victim" mentality never works. If we are trying to eliminate the problem, the victim can't do anything that will actually change the situation. The victim can only get help or get out of the situation. Just as there is nothing a battered woman (or an abused child) can do to stop the abuser, just as the abuser depends on enablers to continue his abuse, Israel can do nothing to bring peace to the region (since Israel is not the one creating the "non-peace" -- Israel is not the one initiating missiles; Israel is not the one sending her citizens into populated areas and murdering people; Israel is not the one killing innocent people).

That the rest of the world has had a taste of the terrorist methods used by the Islamist "causes" should make them understand what Israelis go through on a daily basis, but instead, they separate between what Israel is going through and what they themselves are going through -- it's not the same people; it's not the same agenda. So the rest of the world, particularly Europe and the Obama and Bloomberg crowd in the US, enables the Islamists and allow these enemies of the world, peace and Western values to become stronger and bolder.

I continue to ask myself two main questions: 1) Why are people so intent on having Israel give up more land? and 2) Why are people ignoring the danger to themselves? Why are people putting themselves in danger by supporting the 'Cordoba Initiative' and the 'Let's blame Israel' game? Why do supposedly responsible, educated, knowledgeable journalists continue to make Israel the scapegoat, the reason the Islamists are on the rampage, the ultimate cause of all the evil in the world? Why do they ignore the millions of people maltreated by the Islamists, murdered by homicide-bombers and "ethnic cleansing" and just plane old racism, xenophobia and entitlement? Why do they think that Israel can make Neville Chamberlain style concessions and that the Islamists will respond in a different way from the way Hitler reacted (by wanting and taking more and more and murdering millions)?

I don't know the answer to this, nor do I know what I as one person can do to stop the tide of hatred and vituperation directed toward me and my people. But as long as I am able, I will continue to write and continue to try to influence others. And that is just about all I can do.

Check out my other blogs:

Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women

Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):

Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington