i. ‘Fortunately, the incident resulted in MERELY hurt feelings and disgust …’: That word ‘merely’ rather gives away the writer’s thrust. ‘Merely’ doesn’t come into it. There is no ‘merely’. The so-called incident was shocking, perhaps even to the point of being traumatic. It felt that way even to a reader. So, merely is not an appropriate word to use unless you wish to downplay what happened.

ii. In regard to Lipstadt’s comment, it was made in response to a question. Having a brief to fill as she has does not mean she cannot comment on aspects of Israeli society outside that brief. What you saw with ‘the incident’ was hate, virulent and vicious hate, and there are some orthodox Jews in Israel who view Jews not of their ilk as hateful people and not Jews at all. They don’t accept them as Jews. They wish their demise. Please, let us face up to that and know its meaning. What is unfortunate is the police tolerance of the behaviour and government lack of action in making sure all Jews can pray at the Western Wall in peace and safety. Until this is firmly dealt with, more episodes of this kind will occur and the problem will grow larger and mushroom. And it’s not just praying at the Wall, it’s posters in streets urging women to dress modestly, pressure put on radio stations not to allow women’s voices to air, no civil marriages allowed because the Orthodox are in charge (Ben-Gurion’s fault way back, I know), not to mention the very real problem of religious parties seeking to influence politics along the orthodox path via the Knesset, in order to impact general society in a way that is not healthy for a democracy and state.

The problem at the moment could be considered small, but if not contained could become grim indeed, The thing that would keep Diaspora Jews away from Israel would be any sign of religious fanaticism holding sway in the Knesset, of Israel turning into a state no better than the reign of the Mullahs in Iran. That might seem an extreme thing to say, but things multiply quickly and over time, without attention, can change, just like that.