Tel-Chai Nation

First, it took place in Beit Shemesh. Then, they extended to the Mea Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem:

Haredim rallied in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh Monday morning against the detainment of 14 rioters who tried to prevent construction in a site, which according to them, rests on top of tombs.

Activists affiliated with the extreme organization Atra Kadisha set trash bins on fire in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Geula and Mea Shearim in Jerusalem.

Some 100 haredim came to the construction site in Beit Shemesh and began rioting. Jerusalem District Police detained 14 rioters, 13 of them on suspicion of disorderly conduct and one for assaulting a police officer.

Following the detainment for questioning of all 14 suspects, the rioters burned garbage containers in Beit Shemesh and blocked one of the city's roads. Large police forces arrived at the scene in an attempt to disperse the rioters, and firefighting crews extinguished the fire.

Meanwhile, riots continued in Mea Shearim as well, where trash bins were used to block the neighborhoods' streets for traffic.

It's happened before, and whenever it does, buses and other vehicles have to be detoured. I don't approve whenever they hold special events there that lead to traffic being detoured either. It's costing the country a lot of money and time whenever it happens, and one more reason why welfare handouts to them must be stopped.

Israel National News reports:

Last week, Maariv adds, extremist hareidim came to the home of hareidi developer Aryeh Golobentzich, whom the project is named after, and beat him severely, to the point that he had to be taken to a hospital.

A Channel 2 investigative report last year presented testimony according to which Atra Kadisha seeks payments in exchange for allowing construction and archaeological work at various sites, vandalizes valuable archaeological finds and threatens contractors and archaeologists. Atra Kadisha denied the charges. It claims that all of its actions are motivated by respect for the deceased, whose graves must not be violated by land developers and archaeologists.

It sounds like they're trying to mimic Muslims demanding jizya and committing vandalism. If they're getting ideas from the ummah, I would not be surprised. Rabbi Dov Lipman said:

"These extremists cause nothing but damage to Judaism and religion," MK Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid) stated, applauding the police for its strong reaction and calling to "keep these hooligans off the streets."

"Over the years, [extremist haredim] have learned that they can achieve their goals through violence," Lipman said. "Well, there is a new sheriff in town and we will not allow them to have any control – not in Bet Shemesh and not in the rest of the country."

The Yesh Atid MK expressed hope that "their anti-Jewish and anti-God activities will continue to backfire against them."

I hope so too. While we're on the subject, here's something else quite disgusting in Beit Shemesh: a deputy mayor who cares more about alleged anti-Haredi discrimination than about extremists who riot and endanger people:

The Egged bus company is complicit in a “defamation campaign against the haredi public,” Beit Shemesh Deputy Mayor Shmuel Greenberg (United Torah Judaism) stated in an interview with the Chadash Beit Shemesh newspaper published on Friday.

Greenberg, chairman of the Municipal Transportation Committee, criticized Egged over an incident last month in which a haredi couple was briefly detained after asking a woman to move to the back of a 497 bus to Bnei Brak. After passenger Rachel Rosenfeld was asked to vacate her seat at the front of the bus, the driver alerted the police, leading to the arrests. Following the incident, haredi (ultra-Orthodox) extremists rioted, stoning several buses and smashing the windows of one with a hammer.

While forced separation is illegal, the High Court of Justice has ruled that voluntary separation is permissible.

Signs on many Egged buses inform passengers that “each passenger is entitled to sit wherever he chooses (except in seats designated for persons with disabilities), and harassing passengers regarding this matter may be a criminal offense.”

In an extended statement to Chadash, Greenberg said that haredim are arrested “simply because they are haredi” with the story subsequently being “blown out of proportion by the media without even a minimum of objectivity.”

“For Egged, to join the defamation campaign against the haredi public is intolerable, as is their acquiescence to allow their drivers to seek out opportunities for publicity at the expense of travelers,” Greenberg said. It is a shame, he continued, that Egged is acting against passengers “because of their social identity as haredim with no legal footing and without invitation by any of the involved parties.”

“It is superfluous to call these actions [the riot] destructive and damaging. This is neither the way of Torah nor that of its adherents. We must condemn violence in any form whatsoever. This, however, does not justify Egged’s actions, and the public expects to hear a clear apology on the company’s part, along with a clear declaration that they have no intent of taking sides in the aggressive defamation campaign against the haredi public,” he continued.

I think he can take his blabber and stuff it. "Superfluous"? Not one bit. They violated the beliefs in the Torah, and for that they should be condemned as damningly as possible. What happened with the hammers could easily have led to injury of children aboard the bus if glass fell on them.

MK Dov Lipman, a Beit Shemesh resident, said that he is “happy that Deputy Mayor Greenberg has found his voice to speak out strongly about important issues” and “hope[s] he uses that voice to condemn anyone who asks a woman to go to the back of a bus and to condemn the hooligans who took to the streets and smashed the windows of buses.”

Lipman denied allegations of a coordinated campaign against the haredi public and asserted that “it is time for politicians from the haredi parties to stop using that line whenever there is criticism against haredim.”

Following comments on social media by local residents supportive of the arrested couple, Nili Philipp, a local political activist involved in the issue of gender discrimination, expressed the view held by many of the modern-Orthodox residents of the city that “even asking a woman to move unjustly puts the onus on her even though she’s done nothing wrong.”

“Regarding asking “nicely,” there have been so many incidents of harassment and outright violence when women didn’t comply with the ‘nice’ requests, that argument is moot,” she said. “If you don’t like sitting near women, walk. Many women comply with these requests out of fear, and don’t complain to the police because they’re unaware of their rights.”

Beit Shemesh mayoral candidate Eli Cohen also slammed Greenberg, saying that discrimination is not allowed on Egged buses and the driver in question was merely “following the rules.”

And if those dummies demanding gender seperation really must have it, they can start their own bus lines.

Update: it appears the hoodlums even resorted to arson.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Jerusalem, Judaism, Moonbattery