The men who refuse the Jewish get deserve to have the crap kicked out of them.
I'm with the Rabbis.
Jewish divorce primer: Only the husband can "grant" the writ of divorce to his Jewish spouse (the "get").
If the husband refuses, the Jewish woman becomes an "aguna"-literally a "chained" woman. An "oven" in Hebrew is an anchor, like the one used by ships.
So, she can't remarry. She is stuck. The "get" is used to extort money, custody, property-you name it.
These women can not have any more children because if they have a child outside of marriage they are considered 'bastards' by Jewish law and cannot marry Jews. They are illegitimate. For religious Jews, this is unthinkable territory.
So, I'm with the Rabbis.
The late Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef z"l, was a very innovative thinker when it came to "agunot" (chained women) and he made very liberal halachic rulings to support the agunot. Basically, where there is a will, there is a halachic way.
