This story of Arab-Israeli pornography is tawdry and sad on every level. But the worst element, by far, is the Islamic cultural retardation sanctioning violence against those accused of violating "honor." This is the 21st century: grow up, mind your own business, do something worthwhile with your life, repect the rights of others - even your sister:

"Fatima" saunters into the store, murmuring "Shalom." At the counter, "Yussuf" eyes her appreciatively and returns the Hebrew greeting. Cue music. The couple embrace, lapsing naturally into their native Arabic.

Were it not for the hardcore sex that comes next, it might have passed for another Israeli high school video on language education.

Instead, the bilingual film billed as the first Israeli-Arab pornography has inflamed the Jewish state's Muslim minority, drawing charges of sacrilege and a vigilante death sentence on "Fatima" issued by her own hometown and family.

Amal Kashua, a 38-year-old mother of eight who played Fatima, was set upon by a mob last week in Tira, a prosperous Arab community in central Israel. "Yussuf," a Palestinian known only as Amir, was beaten too. They went to a hospital under police guard, then into hiding.

Shamed by association, Kashua's relatives disowned her.

Tira residents were divided over whether Kashua and Amir were married or merely lovers. But none disputed that the stars of "Yussuf and Fatima" had brought the near-lynching in Tira square upon themselves.

...."This is a blow to the sensitivity of Muslims everywhere," said Tira attorney Ihab Galgoly, who was representing two men arrested on suspicion of leading the assault on the couple.

"We are considering suing the producers for breach of the law guaranteeing human dignity and freedom."

....On the door leading to the main square, Kashua's family had taped a black-on-white poster made to look like a death notice.

"As God, and you all, are our witnesses, we hereby cut off all ties (with Amal Kashua) for all eternity," it read.

Kashua's brother endorsed the attack on the couple. "If I could, I would eat them both raw and spit them out," he told Israeli television, his face obscured and first name withheld.

A leading Israeli feminist described Amal Kashua as the latest victim of "family-honor" violence seen among Israeli Arabs and other conservative Middle Eastern societies.

"With standard domestic violence, the husband attacks the wife, whereas in family-honor cases the woman perceived to have 'strayed' from the moral code is fair game to other men in the community," said Yael Dayan, a long-time member of Israel's parliamentary committee for the advancement of the status of women.

Around 10 Israeli Arab women are murdered each year because of family honor, she said, with countless others beaten or banished. [Reuters]

How does an entire culture become so twisted that some abstract concept of "honor" takes precedence over the actual lives of ostensible "loved ones"? Why wouldn't the town, and especially the family, feel pity and shame for having allowed one of their own to fall into such a state that she would feel porn was her best option? Why didn't they care about her BEFORE she felt driven to porn? Why does this culture feel violence is the answer to every difference of opinion? What is this culture so afraid of? Who can defend any of this with a straight face?