300 Orthodox Jews and police clash in Israel, officer injured

Ultra-orthodox Jews and Israeli police clashed in Beit Shemesh on Monday, injuring a police officer, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. Over 300 Orthodox Jews threw rocks at police, burned rubbish bins, and chased officers after a controversial sign on a main road was removed. The sign encouraged gender segregation in the public sphere. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up pledges to curb Jewish zealotry in Israel on Sunday after an 8-year-old girl in Beit Shemesh complained of being menaced by ultra-Orthodox men who deemed her dress immodest. The statement appeared to have been prompted by an expose on Israel's top-rated weekend news about intra-Jewish friction in Beit Shemesh, a town of about 87,000 people near Jerusalem. The ultra-Orthodox make up only about 10 percent of Israel's population of 7.7 million. But their high birthrates and bloc voting patterns have helped them secure welfare benefits and wider influence. One of Netanyahu's biggest partners in the coalition government, Shas, is a party run by rabbis.