Religious studies are not an excuse for committing crimes

Rabbi Pini Dunner wrote about why Haredis cannot use their alleged interest in religious studies as excuses for committing offenses:

This week, thousands of Israelis found themselves trapped in traffic as Haredi demonstrations brought major highways and railway lines to a standstill. Routes 1, 4 and 6 were blocked.

Traffic on the Ayalon Highway ground to a halt. Trains were stopped, passengers forced to get off, and people attempting to reach Ben-Gurion Airport were stranded. Inevitably, there were clashes with police and confrontations with frustrated motorists.

In one particularly tasteless display, protesters wore yellow stars modelled on those imposed on Jews by the Nazis, except that the word “Jew" had been replaced with “deserter."

On which note, I'd forgotten to mention it before, but those who vandalized the house of a deputy justice in Alon Shvut also brought Israeli flag pages with a swastika in place of a Star of David. That was one of the most antisemitic acts so-called Judaists could possibly commit, and makes clear self-haters aren't limited to the secular leftists. More on that news in the next article highlighted.

The demonstrations were organized by the extremist Haredi group known as the Peleg Yerushalmi, Jerusalem Faction, in response to the arrest of Haredi draft evaders and those who surrounded the private home of the Deputy Chief Justice last week.

To be clear, the protesters did not represent every Haredi Jew, or even every Haredi opponent of military enlistment. But the position they espouse is not confined to this small vocal group. Haredi politicians and rabbinic authorities repeatedly assert that military service threatens the spiritual identity of Haredi young men and must be avoided at all costs.

The army, they say, is not merely physically dangerous; it is religiously dangerous. A young man immersed in Torah study would enter the IDF spiritually refined and emerge diminished. His standards will decline, his outlook will change, and his commitment to Torah will weaken.

Considering it's all written about when it comes to Moses, who asked if certain figures would just sit it out while their brothers went to war, that's why what the Haredi opposition did is just trash talk. They should be utterly ashamed of themselves, and it's decidedly time they left the country. Why, as some could validly argue, those who committed the offenses are unsuited for the army and also unemployable. Perhaps a country like Afghanistan would be a better residential area for them, and they definitely are doing exactly what the Islamofascists would want.

Now since we're on the issue, 4 Haredis from Bet Shemesh, no less, have been indicted for the horror story they caused in Alon Shvut, against a supreme court deputy who happens to be a religious man himself:

Prosecutors on Sunday indicted four men from Beit Shemesh for rioting at the home of Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg in the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut on June 3.

Sohlberg’s home was attacked in the protest, with windows smashed and the entrance vandalized, and some of the protesters reportedly planned to physically harm the justice.

The four are the first to be indicted over the destructive demonstration against the judge, who enraged Haredi leaders with a November ruling that called for criminal sanctions on draft-evading yeshiva students. Police have nabbed dozens of suspected participants in the violent demonstration.

The defendants were identified as Nachman Platnik, 20; Abraham Fried, 20; Gershon Hanoun, 21; and Shimon Atep, 41. All have been in custody since the day of the attack, according to the indictment, and prosecutors informed the court they would seek prison sentences. The defendants will remain in custody until the court says otherwise.

All four defendants were charged with rioting, and Platnik and Fried were also charged with trespassing in order to commit a crime.

Posters announcing the planned riot were plastered on roads and synagogues in the Haredi city of Bnei Brak on the day of the incident, said the indictment, which was filed in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.

What's stunning is that the police surely were aware of this, yet did not act to prevent them from reaching the area. The defendants should not be released, and should receive psychological counseling in prison if they're ever to be part of regular society again.

“Many dozens” of rioters blocked Sohlberg’s street, yelled derogatory chants including “Nazi” and brought small Israeli flags with a swastika instead of a Star of David, according to the indictment.

They also stoned the judge’s home, and smashed windows, potted plants in the entrance and the windshield of the judge’s car, prosecutors said.

Some of Sohlberg’s neighbors mistook the violent protest for a terror attack and entered safe rooms, the indictment said. It added that some neighbors also tried to confront the rioters, and one neighbor was attacked by rioters and had his kippah snatched.

That too was an antisemitic act. Seriously, it's doubtful these particular Haredis actually respect their own faith as opposed to their "interpretation" of it.

The monsters in black hats and suits haven't stopped at the deputy justice's doorstep either. They've practically gone after the chief justice of the supreme court as well:

Dozens of extremist ultra-Orthodox demonstrators rallied on Sunday outside the home of Supreme Court President Isaac Amit in Mevasseret Zion to protest the arrest of a Haredi military draft dodger.

Police dispersed the demonstration after a short while, according to Hebrew media reports.

It was the latest demonstration by Haredim to target a court official. Earlier this month, ultra-Orthodox rioters attacked the home of Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg, smashing windows and causing property damage, while trying to break into the residence in the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut.

The above may have been dealt with in short order, but it was surely possible to have prevented the rioters from reaching the area to start with. This is utterly atrocious and the ringleaders must be exposed, arrested and imprisoned. They're as bad as some far-left activists too, and it's to be hoped serious prison sentences will be given to the monsters who're desecrating the Torah. It's also chilling to think of what if these ultra-Orthodox would even go so far as to commit arson against a synagogue and Torah scrolls. If nothing proper is done, those could be the next targets of those some may least expect as being capable of committing such a heinous act.

Update: unshockingly, now the Haredi parties like UTJ are planning a mass protest traveling to military prisons to protest the jailings. More information here. If the authorities don't take any proper action, that's wrong, and only perpetuates a sorry situation all the more.