Tel-Chai Nation

Once again, we have a case of Haredis giving Orthodox Judaism a bad name by wishing the worst of ills upon anybody they disagree with, no matter how socialist they might be in turn, and violating the the belief that "life and death are in the hands of the tongue":

The head of the Conservative Movement in Israel filed a complaint with police after receiving death threats from ultra-Orthodox men at the Western Wall.

Yizhar Hess was at the Wall Sunday to support Women of the Wall, a group that holds monthly services in which women read from Torah scrolls at the holy site, when he was heckled by a group of religious men.

And while the services are always controversial with the ultra-Orthodox community and often lead to protests, Hess said he had never before “experienced such violent discourse” as he did on Sunday.

In a video filmed by Hess’s friend, several boys and young men accost the group, and one openly says the Conservative leader should be “butchered.”

Prior to the start of the video, Hess said a young man in the group told him, “I’ll murder you. If I had a knife I’d stick it in you right here. If I had an axe you’d get it in the head. You’re a heretic, it’s permitted to kill you.”

He said another man supported the first. “He’s right. You must be killed. I don’t have the guts to do it, but it’s a mitzvah [religious edict]. And if he does it I’ll congratulate him.”

In the video Hess can be heard expressing his shock at the statements. “They should denounce you, a person who speaks of murder. Though shalt not kill is one of the commandments,” he says to the first man.

“I should be denounced? Look at those women,” the man responds. “You should be murdered. You should be butchered. Butchered. You can’t be reformed. You can’t even repent. You evil [man]. If I could I’d choke you to death right now.”

A child is then heard screaming repeatedly: “A Reform Western Wakk [only] in Tel Aviv!”

Police said Tuesday an investigation was underway.

Hess confirmed that he had been brought in to testify and that he had been informed that the man who threatened him in the video had been detained and questioned.

I watched the video recording, and the almost cheery, celebrative way the culprits seem to put this across is chilling and horrific. If you think it sounds eerily like Islamofascism, I'm sure you'd be correct. This is practically what led to the violent murder of Shira Banki 3 years ago at the LGBT march in Jerusalem by a skin-crawlingly creepy Haredi savage. I've sometimes thought Haredi ideology drew from other religions you'd think they disliked, but if they really did borrow from other religions, it's clear they actually think them "kosher" provided it's all done within Judaism itself, no matter how much it'd contradict the Judaist religion, let alone Orthodoxy. Let's also remember quite a few of these Haredi extremists are also ironically anti-Zionist, and if the Western Wall were still held by Islamists, they couldn't care less. Here's more on Haaretz:

A man who threatened this week to murder a leader of the Conservative movement in Israel has been located and is under police investigation, a spokesman for the Jerusalem police force confirmed on Tuesday.

And here's two Facebook posts the rabbi put up with vital information. Now some more from the news article:

Hess filed a complaint with police on Monday and was invited to provide testimony at the police station in Jerusalem’s Old City on Tuesday afternoon. “Our interrogation is still under way,” a spokesman for the Jerusalem police told Haaretz, “and if we find that there are grounds for pressing charges, that will be done.”

This would not be the first time that leaders of the non-Orthodox movements in Israel have received death threats.

Two years ago, envelopes containing written death threats were discovered at a vandalized Reform synagogue in the central Israeli town of Ra’anana. The individuals targeted in that case were Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism (the congregational arm of the movement in North America), Rabbi Gilad Kariv (executive director of the movement in Israel) and Anat Hoffman (chair of Women of the Wall who also heads the Israel Religious Action Center, the advocacy arm of the movement in Israel).

For a community supposedly offended by Conservative and Reform customs, the Haredis sure seem interested in ensuring they'll get more customers. Anyway, the police better make sure to charge all offenders involved, give them jail sentences and fines, and above all, ban them from the Western Wall permanently. There's no place at such a famous, holy site for people who corrupt and humiliate Judaism.

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