Haredi Hooliganism
It's a popular Jblog topic, so I'll cast my lot. Ramat Beit Shemesh is a real locus point for this kind of madness. I don't doubt it's occurance, yet it still seemed sort of remote and 'sensational', enough that I could wonder "does it really happen that much?..how much of it is just a few incidents repackaged into many in the retelling?"...until I read in passing on a DC-area listserv;

My daughter-in-law in Israel had to take a small child to her doctor, who on that day was located in an ultra orthodox area of Ramat Beit Shemesh at a clinic. She was dressed with her hair covered (as she normally does), with long sleeves and skirt, but with open sandals. She was chased after, jeered, and spat upon, and had to run with the child, in fear of their safety.

A mother with her child?...For God's Sake, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? Haredim; If you honestly do not condone this behavior AT ALL - do not apply "dan l'kaf zechoys" to it by calling them "overzealous"! Why try to 'think the best' of such horrific, indefensible behavior?..unless, "at the end of the day" (as was so frequently quipped at Aish), you do believe it is ultimately in the category of the defensible?...