Doug-at-large

KABUL (Reuters) – A new Afghan law that has drawn Western condemnation for restricting women’s rights does not allow marital rape as its critics claim, but lets men refuse to feed wives who deny them sex, the cleric behind it says.

Ayatollah Mohammed Asef Mohseni’s Shiite personal status law sparked controversy abroad because of a provision that “a wife is obliged to fulfill the sexual desires of her husband.”

A man and wife can negotiate how often it is reasonable to sleep together, based on his sex drive, and a woman has a right to refuse if she has a good reason, said the bearded cleric.

“It should not be compulsory for the wife to say yes all the time, because some men have more sexual desires than others,” he said, adding that husbands should never force themselves on their wives and the law does not sanction that.

But women do have a duty to meet their husband’s needs.

“If a woman says no, the man has the right not to feed her,” Mohseni said.

I’m against war and don’t think it is acceptable for Hamas to launch missiles at civilian centers in Israel or for Israel to bomb areas where civilians are sure to be hit in Gaza. 

Hamas is a terrorist group and has no moral justification for targeting civilians. Israel isn’t targeting civilians, but its disproportionate response ends up killing even more civilian as “collateral damage”. 

I am in favor of blockades and embargoes. People say this is also “collective punishment”, but under a blockade I would also be in favor of allowing affected civilians to leave for protected areas – either in Israel or Egypt. And then starve Hamas out. 

Obviously letting Hamas continue to lob missiles into Israel is also an intolerable situation, so something must be done. A blockade seems the most peaceful thing to try. 
doug