The two cases from Israeli law discussed in this Haaretz article look like this: A man said he was a neurosurgeon. Woman slept with him based on that. He wasn't. Conviction. A man said he was a housing ministry official and would help them get better apartments. He wasn't, and he didn't. Conviction. Both men were Israeli Jews.
I'd say that lying about your job is basically on par with lying about your race or religion. While I don't doubt that there was a race/religion component to the prosecution, and while I very much think this kind of law is (practically speaking) a bad idea, Israeli courts first applied this theory of law to Jews who lied about their jobs. It's consistent with the law as stated, which is simply that if the misrepresentation is material to the decision to have sex with someone, then it constitutes rape-by-fraud. (For what it's worth, I don't think it was reflexive antipathy on your part, just a lack of information.)
Another writes:
Your dissenting reader is mistaken. Nowhere in this BBC article does the complaint filed by the claimant indicate that the alleged perpetrator said he was Jewish. He had a name that was consonant with a Jewish name. Nowhere in the claim does the defendant indicate that she asked his religious status and he told her a lie. Quite simply, this woman assumed the man was Jewish, never asked, and he assumed it wasn't a problem because at no time had she indicated to him that being of Arab descent would be a problem.
This might actually be rape by deception if deception had occurred. But none did.
I am a feminist and am among the most vociferous when it comes to attacking real rape, and real cases of deception in order to obtain uninformed consent. But, by all available accounts, nothing of the sort occurred. Should new information surface, I'd change my mind. But at the present state of affairs, the only information available indicates that a man and a woman engaged in sexual relations under all the required conditions of consent, and only later, when the woman discovered she had failed to ask the right questions, she decided to use the force of Israeli law to punish the man.
Another:
Do you think the Israeli court would have ruled the same way if the man lied to the woman by telling her that he was in love with her and the woman relied on that affirmation of love? What if he said he had a job and the woman had a policy against sleeping with jobless men? Men say and do things to deceive women into sleeping with them all the time.
I'm Jewish. I have family members who don't date non-Jews, let alone sleep with them. Nevertheless, jail time strikes me as being an extreme punishment for a common offense – lying one's way into a woman's pants.
You have until noon on Tuesday to guess it. Country first, then city and/or state. If no one guesses the exact location, proximity counts. Be sure to email entries to VFYWcontest@theatlantic.com. Winner gets a free The View From Your Window book, courtesy of Blurb. Have at it.
Just thought I'd share a little story about the View From Your Window contest I thought you'd enjoy. My friends and I have turned it into a league similar to a fantasy baseball – a Fantasy VFYW league of sorts. We ran it as a four week season starting with the week you posted a Honolulu window view. Each week, we have to guess the location and we've kept track of who is the cumulative closest or farthest. The trash talking has been intense!
What prompted me to write was that this last window view was as dramatic as a Final Four.
Let me paint a picture: going into the week, in our seven person league, my friend was in the lead at 7,986 miles with Mazatlan (Honolulu), St. Petersburg (Tromso), and Colombo, Sri Lanka (Dar Es Salaam). I was second at 10,627 with Tunis, Tunisia (Honolulu), Tromso (Tromso), and N'Djamena, Chad (Dar Es Salaam). I picked Dili, East Timor on the last one, which would have meant I nailed 2 out of 4. But my friend picked Phnom Penh, Cambodia, close enough to East Timor (1,986 miles) to make it geographically impossible for me to win (a move hereafter referred to as being "price is righted"). So yesterday, I changed my pick to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to give myself a chance. This morning, my inbox exploded after Dili was the actual. It has been pointed out that at 11,044 away I am within 1000 miles of being at the polar opposite point of the globe from East Timor. Ridiculous.
Keep them coming – season two of the league starts up next week!
Despite all we've learned about human psychology over the past several decades, we seem unable to make much of a dent in America's overall suicide rate, which has remained remarkably stable over the past half-century. In fact, the rate of suicide attempts seems to have gone up over that time period; the rate of successful attempts has most likely held steady due to advances in emergency-room medicine. (Sparsely populated states such as Montana often have high suicide rates because people live so far from ERs.)
Today on the Dish, we capped off a week of controversies. In NYC mosque coverage, Noah Millman defended Muslim Americans, readers pounced on Newt, and another reinforced the absurdity of the whole situation. Limbaugh let his racist flag fly and FNC was close behind. Journo-scandal updates here and here. Commentary on the Israel rape scandal here, here, and especially here.
In Palin coverage, she whined about the press asking her questions, Cillizza noted a big challenge in New Hampshire, and Bernstein sounded off on the horse race. Bristol made a creepy ad. Internet fun here and here. The Trig thread continued here and here.
Andrew cornered Douthat on gay marriage, called out anti-Semitic smears, and agreed with Brooks about balancing the budget. Iraq update here. Recession update here and a reader in China chimed in on wages. Glimpse at the impact of DOMA here.
MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here. Best places in Provincetown here.
Newt slithered into the NYC mosque mess, Yglesias smacked him around, and Larison found higher ground. In other Palin coverage, readers pounced on her NYC/Real America hypocrisy, Friedersdorf took a turn, Roger Simon concurred with the Dish on 2012, and Noah Millman shivered. Chin-scratching Trig posts here and here.
Sharron Angle continued toembarrass herself in the face of the press. Richard Silverstein went to bat for Andrew over Tablet's smears, a reader dissented over his take on the rape-by-deception case, and Frum reminded us (with reader feedback) of Israel's strengths to the US. Andrew held up the Cameron-led coalition as a model for Republicans.
Kinsley revived the estate tax debate and Glenn Reynolds stood up to the police state. Another, broader look at the WaPo series here. Dreher engaged Rauch on the move towards marriage equality. Andrew played with conversation.
Mike Tyson talked shit about his tattoo. Crazy campaign ad here and a fun new blog here. MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here.
Wednesday on the Dish, coverage and commentary of the Breitbart-Sherrod controversy continued here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and a reader dissent here. (Meanwhile, POTUS signed a major bill.) On the Journo-scandal, Andrew challenged Chait, doubled down, and Ezra defended his defunct forum. Andrew also kepton the Hollywood scandal (multiple dissents here), defended himself from Tablet's charges, and meep-meep'd over the GOP. Scott Horton dug into the WaPo series and Ray Sanchez reported more on the police state.
In Palin watch, Goldblog sounded an alarm over her stance on Israel, her group blog peddled a revolting ad against the NYC mosque, readers rushed to defend religious freedom, another underscored the absolutism of her base on Trig, and Larison betted on Romney. Her latest mama grizzly surged in the Georgia governor's race.
In assorted coverage, Hitch grappled with the US-Israel problem, Christopher Papagianis and Reihan wonked out on homeownership, and Jonathan Rauch sees marriage equality as a foregone conclusion. Vice magazine shot a short doc down in the Gulf while Dan Ariely reminded us about the rainforests. A look at a uniquely Green skyscraper here. A love letter to the Old Spice Guy here.
Tuesday on the Dish, Andrew sized up the congressional elections, glanced at the Angle-Reid race, shook his head at Journo-list's latest scandal, and cautioned against Breitbart's scoop on supposed racism in the USDA. (That caution proved prescient.) Some troubling rhetoric emerged from Netanyahu. Rahm watch here.
In Palin coverage, her political clout grew ever-stronger, the AP corrected her facts, Ambinder parsed her press strategy, readers pushed back against her bigotry on the Ground Zero mosque, Mark Liberman studied up on "refudiate," Doonesbury defended McGinniss, Andrew circled back to Weigel's Trig criticism, readers sounded off on the same, and another juxtaposed lil' Andrew and lil' Sarah. Lots of drama from Wasilla here.
More on the WaPo police-state series here and here. Hitchens unloaded on supporters of Mel Gibson and a reader dissented over his and Andrew's criticism. Cali cannabis coverage here and Social Security here. In assorted commentary, Kornacki looked at Romney's record against female opponents, Bagehot checked in on Cameron's coalition, Drezner scrutinized smart sanctions, Brad Plumer perused what's left of the energy bill, TNC rubbed his brow over journalists blaming blacks for Prop 8, Balko backed gambling, and Douthat examined American meritocracy. E.D. Kain and Timothy Lee added to the liberaltarian thread.
Anti-capitalist art here and funny dog video here. MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here. The latest window winner here.
Anchorage, Alaska, 11.41 pm
Monday on the Dish, bloggers reacted to the WaPo's big feature on the police state. Andrew's take here. He also tackled the Christianists over Mel Gibson, replied to Frum on the state of the conservatism, threw up his hands at the GOP over spending, and kept his eye on Israel's campaign against Turkey.
Palin coined a Bushism and inspired a Twitter meme. Gallup had her in the lead for 2012, Blumenthal explained disparate polling, and a reader illustrated her immense clout in congressional races. Levi and Bristol made bank. More Palin drama here, here, and here. Andrew responded at length to Weigel's refudiation of Trig-gate, noted Cameron's wife's refusal to fly pregnant, and offered a belated take on the Levi-Bristol engagement. Sprung countered Weigel on Palin's need for policy chops, Chait realized the GOP can't contain her, and Goldblog glowered at her assault on the Ground Zero mosque.
Chris Good and TNC covered the departure of racist Mark Williams, the Brits leaked the latest withdrawal date from Afghanistan, Marc Lynch discussed our ever-possible bombing of Iran, Greenwald kept the heat on the NYT over "torture," and Bruce Bartlett dropped his jaw at the GOP's fantasy over the Bush tax cuts. Surge fail update here and here. California cannabis update here and here. Alex Ogle reported on a cash incentive program to lower AIDS in Africa and Chris Blattman worried about the drug trade there.
Noah Millman came around on marriage equality and Virginia Postrel talked glamour. Cailey Hall watched soldier music videos and Alexis Madrigal meditated over a YouTube bullying case. MHB here, VFYW here, and a young Sully face here.
Timothy Lee bemoans the urban planning decisions made in St. Louis, and elsewhere:
Carving up St. Louis with freeways didn’t just undermine individual neighborhoods, it permanently changed the region’s culture. By undermining walkable urban neighborhoods while simultaneously making it easier to commute in from the suburbs, planners effected a massive transfer of wealth from from cities to suburbs. It’s not surprising that many people responded to these incentives by moving to the suburbs. But it was hardly a voluntary choice.
Thought the Dish might get a kick out of the insight into the mind of Charlie Rangel in this clip. "Deference, Please" isn't a partisan issue; both parties seem to feel they are entitled to kid glove treatment from the portion of the media that is "theirs".
I do think that things are more fluid than [Millman] implies…there's still plenty of time for someone other than Mitt Romney to play the Romney role he imagines (Rick Perry?). We don't have a good sense yet of whether Sarah Palin's appeal within Republican primary electorates is capped…well, we do have a sense that it is capped, but whether that's at 70% (not much of a problem) or 40% (very big problem) doesn't seem clear to me right now. Some numbers: the current YouGov/Economist poll gives her a 77/17% favorable rating among Republicans…but we don't really know how many of those 77% are thinking of her as a presidential candidate. For what it's worth, YouGov/Economist has her leading the horse race with 28%; that doesn't strike me as a very impressive total for a candidate with excellent name recognition against a bunch of unknowns. Of course, there's also the very solid possibility that she bails anyway for any one of a thousand reasons. But I think Millman's piece is very nicely set in the real-life world of nominations, with its interactions between various party elites and the voters.
An Internet user looks at a Facebook page dedicated to Anna Chapman in Paris on July 23, 2010. Two weeks after 10 Russian spies flew back from the United States to Moscow, the buzz of interest around the ring's most photogenic member, the feisty redhead Anna Chapman, shows no signs of receding. While Chapman remains in an unknown location since her arrival in Moscow, reportedly being debriefed, she has apparently found time to write enigmatic Facebook updates and negotiate with journalists on her first interview. By Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images.
The Dish 