Jenny Raz
Jenny Razscreenshot

Channel 13's "Morning World" program dealt today (Thursday) with nationalist sexual harassment in Nazareth Illit (Upper Nazareth), after a post by former city resident Jenny Raz was published on Arutz Sheva.

The program hosted Raz, who appeared after Ronen Palut, the city's mayor.

"I was elected a year-and-a-half ago and when I took up the position, I saw that the lack of security was very disturbing to the residents, and it's inconceivable that a girl walking in the street should be subjected to whistling, catcalls, and other very unpleasant things."

Palut said he'd instructed municipal inspectors to impose fines on those who harass girls in the city's streets. Inspectors also call the police, who "take the suspect for interrogation and there he has to explain why he comes to Upper Nazareth in the evening, because usually they aren't Upper Nazareth residents, and why he does everything he does and interferes with the quiet and good lives of Upper Nazareth residents, "he explained.

Sense of cheapness

"As a girl who grew up in Upper Nazareth, I grew up with a feeling of insecurity," Raz said."It's a very strong feeling as a girl, as a woman, of cheapness, and it's very hard to live like that.

"I was very hesitant to point out in my post that this was harassment by members of minorities," she said."I did it because I know that I can stand 100 percent behind this statement ... There's no need to whitewash things ... You need to recognize the phenomenon, and if the phenomenon exists among a certain population, you have to admit it too, so that we can eradicate it and take care of it," she said.

"It's hard to talk about this phenomenon," Raz added, "especially if you want to be true and describe the reality and not try to beautify things in order to be politically correct."

Arab Journalist Safa Farhat said she thought it was a cultural problem, because the residents of the villages around Upper Nazareth are not used to seeing women in less-than modest clothing.Raz agreed with her and noted that since moving to Tel Aviv she has allowed herself to dress in a way that she would not have dared to dress in Upper Nazareth.