Their fanatics, our fantatics?

Saudi punishes gang rape victim with 200 lashes

Nov 15 10:51 AM US/Eastern
A court in the ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia is punishing a female victim of gang rape with 200 lashes and six months in jail, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The 19-year-old woman -- whose six armed attackers have been sentenced to jail terms -- was initially ordered to undergo 90 lashes for "being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape," the Arab News reported.

But in a new verdict issued after Saudi Arabia's Higher Judicial Council ordered a retrial, the court in the eastern town of Al-Qatif more than doubled the number of lashes to 200.

A court source told the English-language Arab News that the judges had decided to punish the woman further for "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media."

Saudi Arabia enforces a strict Islamic doctrine known as Wahhabism and forbids unrelated men and women from associating with each other, bans women from driving and forces them to cover head-to-toe in public.

So here is my question: My mother was corncobbed in Mea Shearim 50 years ago for wearing a sunbdress. Israeli fanatics have thrown rocks at cars driving through their neighborhood on Shabbat. Jewish law also forbids a man and woman from being alone in a room together, unless they are immediate relatives. Fanatics become an ever growing percentage of Jews. They will eventually be a majority-check birthrates-what happens if they take over Israel? Its a worry.

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg