Hashemi does not plan to seek asylum outside

TEL AVIV: Even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ordering a firmer hand to be taken against women’s exclusion, the legal system appears less eager to fight the phenomenon. An Israeli arrested on suspicion he spat on a 42-year-old woman was released after a court hearing.In the past few months, the Beit Shemesh police arrested 10 Ulta-orthodox Jews in relation to attacks over immodest attire and sex segregation. Menachem Manes Simon was arrested on Wednesday after a woman filed a police complaint against him claiming he had spat on her in the street.He was brought for a remand hearing that very day, but Hagit Mac-Kalmanovich, vice president of the Beit Shemesh magistrate’s court, ordered his release on bail. An indictment against him will be filed in the coming days.The suspect, part of fanatical groups in the city, was unco-operative during the investigation and called the officers “Zionists.” His lawyer Yair Nehorai said in the hearing: “The law does not allow a person’s arrest based on lack of co-operation. His lack of co-operation stemmed from religious reasons and his lifestyle. His right to remain silent should not play against him.”