The gala celebration for Jerusalem's new $73 million light-rail bridge was marked by fireworks, dancers, and speeches. The bridge has received mixed reviews from the people of the city.. (Dan Balilty/Associated Press)
"Jerusalem bridge shows divide" by Griff Witte, Washington Post | July 13, 2008
JERUSALEM - When it came time to open the bridge to the Israeli public late last month, the mood could hardly have been more discordant.
First, there was the problem of the cost, more than $70 million for a bridge that many in Israel griped could have been built for a fraction of that price.
While their corrupt and criminal government also steals from them.
Sound familiar, AmeriKa?
But the biggest problem of all was the dancing girls. Hours before the ceremony began, the dancers were told that they would need a new wardrobe. Their short-sleeve shirts and ankle-length white trousers were judged to be too revealing. And their dances, involving tambourines and balloons, were downright "promiscuous," according to the city's deputy mayor.
Strange, considering that Jews are the ones who started the porn industry!
So the girls took the stage instead in flowing brown cloaks and, despite the summer heat, black woolen caps. Forced to eliminate most of their steps, they barely danced at all.
The city's ultra-Orthodox community, which dominated the crowd, heartily approved. The reaction among secular Israelis was less enthusiastic. "The Taliban Are Here" was the banner headline in the next day's Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest-circulation daily. Yair Ettinger, writing in the daily Haaretz, said that for Jerusalem's less devout, the night was "yet another stage in the city's ongoing fall into the hands of ultra-Orthodox extremists."
But Deputy Mayor Yehoshua Pollak, who like the mayor is ultra-Orthodox, was proud to have forced the changes."--MORE--"
Ah, that explains it!
"For the ultra-Orthodox, both in Israel and the U.S., a form of "messianic Zionism," which makes control over the biblical Land of Israel a religious mandate, has been growing."
Also see: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Racists
Memory Hole: A Rabbi I Love
Neturei Karta
