Tel-Chai Nation

According to this item in the Jewish Press, the United Torah Judaism member denied that there was ever a case of Haredis intimidating young schoolgirls in Beit Shemesh, despite the video evidence of some crackpots going around spouting nonsense and one spitting at a female passer-by, as seen in the following video:

Who do Gafni and company think they are denying reality? Furthermore, nobody said the entire Haredi population was cavorting around acting crudely like this, but quite a few certainly are guilty of Kitty Genovese syndrome for failing to protest and come to the aid of non-Haredis in distress.

What happened was that, troublingly enough, the police closed the case against a man accused of spitting, and I suspect it's because they don't want to do justice:

The police reportedly closed the "spitting file" - and this has promoted the sudden flurry of activity from the ultra-orthodox political leadership,who are now claiming that their public has been finally vindicated.

It is important to clarify there were actually two incidents in the Lapid documentary (see full Channel Two documentary below) involving spitting/harassment in Beit Shemesh:

Case One: Na'ama Margalese - the iconic 7 year old, filmed being scared and refusing to go to school.

Case Two: Alisa Coleman - the modern orthodox woman seen being spat at by an ultra-orthodox man

Case 1 did not go to the police. Perhaps this was because the TV item was filmed several months after the traumatic events, or because it was unclear what those events were, or who the culprit was. When Interior Minister Aharonovich reported that there was no complaint received by the police, he is referring to this case.

Indeed, Minister Aharonovich stated in response to MK Moshe Gafni: "I did not say that such an incident did not occur. Only that the police never got a complaint in the matter."

Case 2 was reported immediately to the police by Mrs. Coleman, and criminal charges were brought in court against an ultra-orthodox resident of Beit Shemesh. Although there is video of the incident, and numerous witnesses, the case has now been closed by the police. According to reports, this was due to the two sides deciding not to pursue the case further.

Mrs. Coleman said today that she has not been contacted by the court, nor was she a party to any agreement to not pursue the case further. She is now seeking an explanation from the state prosecution department "why they decided to drop such a cast iron case, which was so politically charged?".

When asked to comment on this case, MK Rabbi Dov Lipman, whose political journey which brought him to the Knesset started with the Orot Girls School protests, stated: "We have a clear video of a man spitting on a woman. The police didn't say the spitting didn't happen. They simply could not prove that the guy who they arrested for it did it. That is the entire story.

"This does not relate to the four months of assaults on little girls that we experienced and that were also caught on video."

While it may be true that they couldn't prove the man they busted was the spitter, what if they closed it out of lenience? If that's so, and they didn't even bring Mrs. Coleman to a lineup room where she could identify the culprit, then they are guilty of obstructing justice from within.

The UTJ and Shas members who stooped to this offensive act did so for little more than an excuse to attack Yair Lapid, who helped broadcast the news report about these cases 2 years ago, prior to his election for Knesset. There are legitimate reasons to be bothered by him, but this isn't one of them, and they should be ashamed of themselves.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Knesset, misogyny, Moonbattery, political corruption