Hamas bans women from riding on backseat of motorbikes

Hamas bans women from riding on backseat of motorbikes

Hamas has banned motorcycle riders from carrying women on the back seat - the latest in the Islamist group's virtue campaign in Gaza.

The ban was posted on Hamas Interior Ministry Web site on Tuesday, in an effort "to preserve citizen safety and the stability of Palestinian society's customs and traditions."

Hamas wants to impose a strict interpretation of Islam. Its other efforts have included breaking up mixed couples on the beach and obliging female lawyers to wear headscarves in court.

The group insists compliance with the campaign is voluntary and reflects Gaza's conservative ways, but reports have surfaced of offenders being beaten or arrested.

Source: JPost

Israel should have finished the job in January and freed Gaza from the grip of these unelected misogynistic thugs.

reply to post by mattpryor


I know! What sort of monsters are they not letting women ride on the back of motorcycles! Pure evil!

reply to post by mattpryor


LOL.. these are like Christian Puritans. They shudder at the thought that someone somewhere might be enjoying something.

reply to post by mattpryor


I think you should go grab a big old Freedom Stick®, and go over there and free those people from their oppression. You seem to harp on all these bad Muslims about not having freedoms, yet you pose no way to solve it outside of using the Freedom Stick®.

They have different culture than us, live with it. Quit such a xenophobe and realize that your ways, as awesome and righteous as they are, are not everyone's ways. Once you can deal with that, you will not be such an angry person.

Originally posted by mattpryor

Hamas bans women from riding on backseat of motorbikes

Hamas has banned motorcycle riders from carrying women on the back seat - the latest in the Islamist group's virtue campaign in Gaza.

The ban was posted on Hamas Interior Ministry Web site on Tuesday, in an effort "to preserve citizen safety and the stability of Palestinian society's customs and traditions."

Hamas wants to impose a strict interpretation of Islam. Its other efforts have included breaking up mixed couples on the beach and obliging female lawyers to wear headscarves in court.

The group insists compliance with the campaign is voluntary and reflects Gaza's conservative ways, but reports have surfaced of offenders being beaten or arrested.

Source: JPost

Israel should have finished the job in January and freed Gaza from the grip of these unelected misogynistic thugs.

freed Gaza???..this was the most sick post ever read on ATS

reply to post by mattpryor


Are women allowed to drive motorbikes? Since they can no longer ride on the back, what's to stop them from driving themselves? Are there any laws against that?

reply to post by Rook1545


I'm not a Xenophobe. I respect other cultures fine thanks. But I appreciate the lecture, cheers.

I respect peoples' right to live their lives as they see fit. It has nothing to do with me, and I assure you it doesn't make me angry. I do see it as wrong when that "different culture" is forced upon them by pain of torture, imprisonment or death, by a group of people whose only claim to power is that they shot, knee-capped, tortured or booted out all their opposition (and continue to do so).

And I reserve the right to post about it and state my opinions whenever I like, thanks, just as you have the right to ignore my posts and my opinions - or comment on them and draw attention to them

reply to post by heineken


Sicker than holocaust denial posts, for instance?

I don't think I'm being particularly controversial when I say that if it had not been for the UN and the "International Community", Israel would have booted out the racist thugs that are Hamas once and for all and restored law and order to Gaza. Instead they withdrew and allowed them to re-assert control (although their leader is still quivering in his Damascus palace, living well off the donations of international well-wishers).

Originally posted by mattpryor
reply to post by Rook1545

 

I'm not a Xenophobe. I respect other cultures fine thanks. But I appreciate the lecture, cheers.

I respect peoples' right to live their lives as they see fit. It has nothing to do with me, and I assure you it doesn't make me angry. I do see it as wrong when that "different culture" is forced upon them by pain of torture, imprisonment or death, by a group of people whose only claim to power is that they shot, knee-capped, tortured or booted out all their opposition (and continue to do so).

And I reserve the right to post about it and state my opinions whenever I like, thanks, just as you have the right to ignore my posts and my opinions - or comment on them and draw attention to them

Obviously you don't get it. You pop up in these Middle East threads (yeah, I realize you started this one), decrying the way they live. They have been living this way for much longer than you have been alive, and THEY seem to be ok with it. You want them to live the same as us, yet I have read your comments about some Muslims who want to liberate us Westerners from our culture, and you are none to happy about it. You only seem to respect other cultures if they are in line with the way you think they should behave.

You can think whatever you want about Hamas. They were elected democratically and I defy you to prove otherwise. They do some questionable things, but they have shown that can provide for the Palestinian people much better than the previous group could. Self determination is a wonderful thing, the world would look alot different if no one had it.

As far as your comment in your first post...I wish the rest of the world would have taken a stand and slapped Israel back to being the 3rd world nation they deserve to be. See...I can make ridiculous statements for shock value too.

Am i supposed to be somehow up in arms that women can't ride on the back of motorbikes?

Just what exactly was your point in making this post, other than to yet again so oh look at the boogey men Hamas?

They live their lives and i live mine. I have no desire to change their way of life or what they do, or to impose my values on them.

reply to post by Rook1545


When have I popped at the way people live their lives in the Middle East? I have no problem with the way anyone lives their life, if it doesn't interfere with the way I live mine.

What I complain about is the way Middle Eastern governments treat their citizens. Why do you have a problem with this?

Unlike certain forum members who only seem capable of complaining about the way Israel treats people, when there are far, far worse problems in the region which get ignored.

And here's a question for you: If the Republicans had won a majority in congress then proceeded to execute or exile every Democrat congressman and every Democrat supporter, would you defend the Republicans and say they have any credible mandate to govern?

reply to post by Kram09


I don't honestly care whether you're up in arms about it or not. If you don't think it's a story, stop replying

It's a Middle East news story, and so I posted it. Or are we not allowed to post anything unless it's critical of Israel now?

reply to post by mattpryor


If your so concerned about the way Middle Eastern governments treat their citizens, what about other countries?

I'd like to see you start some threads, crying out about Zimbabwe or Burma, or even the United States.

reply to post by mattpryor


No, and i don't recall mentioning anything about Israel....

reply to post by heineken


No, I think Hamas should have been removed from power because they're a terrorist group that seized absolute power by force of arms and are turning Gaza into a hell hole.

They bought war upon their own people by indiscriminately shelling Israeli towns. How stupid can you get? They haven't even been able to fix their sewage system in 4 years since they took power (way before there were any blockades, before you try that one). They can't even run their own schools. Too busy making rockets and TV programs featuring the Hamas Jew hating rabbit, or bear, or whatever it is these days.

I don't think I'm saying anything particularly controversial - if I am, mods please give me a slap!

And with all due respect, I will not take lectures on morality from a holocaust denier.

Originally posted by mattpryor
reply to post by Rook1545

 

When have I popped at the way people live their lives in the Middle East? I have no problem with the way anyone lives their life, if it doesn't interfere with the way I live mine.

What I complain about is the way Middle Eastern governments treat their citizens. Why do you have a problem with this?

Unlike certain forum members who only seem capable of complaining about the way Israel treats people, when there are far, far worse problems in the region which get ignored.

And here's a question for you: If the Republicans had won a majority in congress then proceeded to execute or exile every Democrat congressman and every Democrat supporter, would you defend the Republicans and say they have any credible mandate to govern?

If it doesn't bother you as you suggest, then why such a big deal about not being able to ride on motorbikes? And why suggest that Israel should have finished them off? Sounds to me like you have a problem with it.

You are right, there are far worse problems in the region than some lady not being able to hop a ride on a bike. How about Saudi Arabia? Now that is a country we should all be using as a rallying point. Of course for some reason they get a free pass when it comes to the West. Hamas not letting someone ride on a motorbike pales in comparison to the gross atrocities that occur in SA every day. Yet no one does anything, or says anything. On ATS at least we try to bring attention to what Israel has and is doing, and I will freely admit that they are no where near as bad as what the Saudis do. Maybe we need to change the focus of the ME from Israel/Iran/Palestine to Saudi Arabia.

I would also think that a government doing something as trivial as this should not be made center stage as a justification point for Israels need to "wipe them out", when that very country violated several international laws in regards to how they handle the Palestinian people.

reply to post by Rook1545


I've made frequent references to the oppression of Shia muslims, Christians and Jews (oh wait, there aren't any) in Saudi Arabia in previous posts.

I only ever see you comment on threads that criticize Israel, or leap to attack people that defend Israel.

Not much news comes out of Gaza, you all seem very interested in the place, so here's some news.

And as I stated above, this is not why I believe Israel should have driven Hamas out of Gaza, but further highlights their inability to govern responsibly.

With all the problems in Gaza, you'd think they'd find better things to do than to pass laws suppressing women's rights, manufacture and fire rockets, and make propaganda TV vilifying Jews. Obviously you disagree.

TPTB are the same all over. Laws made to protect rights and laws made to take them away. They had to make a law to prevent girls from being on the backs of motorbikes. That means even more hardship to the common folks there. So if Israel got after them again it would make it harder for them to run from the area being bombed on that particular day. For fear of being arrested by there own gov. b/c there wife or sister was on the back of a motorcycle.
BAD ALL AROUND

[edit on 7/10/09 by Arkansas]

mattpryor is one fine hypocrite.

First, he posts about the bike ban as if it's an important news about the oppressive nature of Islamic culture. When others tell him that Arabs have their traditions (and notions of how motorbikes are used) he says he doesn't have a problem with a different culture. Then he goes on to comment that torture is wrong (go figure what it has to do with motorbikes).

If he doesn't mind, why on earth did he post the OP?

Sheesh.