The group of ultra-Orthodox women who entered the parliament building in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last December, immediately drew the attention of everyone in the reception compound. Waiting for the guests from Israel was an elegant table covered with all sorts of glatt kosher offerings, supervised by the rabbi of the city and served with disposable utensils.
Among the women was Esther Atias, wife of former Minister Ariel Atias, who is one of the heads of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party; Adina Bar Shalom, daughter of the late spiritual leader of Shas Rabbi Ovadia Yosef; and Tzipi Lau, wife of Israel's Chief Rabbi David Lau. The group featured more women — wives of other senior Shas leaders — all of whom preferred to keep a low profile in their visit to Northern Ireland. They were joined at the dinner by local parliamentarians. During their visit, the women also met with the mayor of Belfast, former members of the Irish underground and victims of the bloody “Troubles” that tore the country apart.
The visit was organized by the United Nations as part of a project led by nongovernmental organization InterPeace to expose public opinion shapers in ultra-Orthodox society in Israel to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The women, all of whom are considered leaders in the ultra-Orthodox community, were carefully selected to attend a master's program in “conflict management and resolution,” in cooperation with Ben Gurion University and the ultra-Orthodox college in Jerusalem, and sponsored by the UN. They went to Ireland to learn about its model for resolving a bloody national conflict.
The organizer of the event, who accompanied the visit, was former Shas spokesman Itzik Sudri, who now works as a strategic consultant. Sudri is also the brother of Yehudit Yosef, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s daughter-in-law. He believes in the two-state solution and signed the Geneva Initiative to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians. Over the past few years, he has become a kind of “activist in promoting peace initiatives” in ultra-Orthodox society. He has been managing the project for the UN and InterPeace since 2005, based on the assumption that the ultra-Orthodox in Israel are the key to achieving a political-diplomatic solution to the conflict.
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