frgdr.com Blog

The day before yesterday we learned that the Israeli parliament celebrated International Women’s Day by teaching its female members self-defense. This evening the Tel Aviv District Committee of The Israel Bar Association will try to top that:
Let us play a game called What Is The Name of The Tel-Aviv Bar Association’s Main Event On IWD 2008?

Is it:

• “Equal Pay, Equal Rights – The Advancement of Women in Israel”
• “Sexual Slavery and Human Trafficking In Israel”
• “An Enriching and Amusing Lecture about Styling, Make-Up and Hair”

Whether you can read the following invitation in Hebrew or not – deep down you already know the answer:

What kind of a bizarro world do we live in when International Women’s Day is celebrated by the Israeli parliament by giving female Knesset members self-defense lessons?

I am all for female empowerment but I have to wonder whether the legislative branch became so toothless that the message it wants to convey to the female citizens can be broken down to:

• men are coming to harm you
• the country cannot/would not defend you
• better learn to scream ‘no!’ and prepare for a fight