30,000 Haredim Protest – Some Riot – In Jerusalem

"It is clear to all of us that [the haredi rioters are] just a small number of protesters in comparison to the tens of thousands God fearing protesters. We have no control over the youth,” Pini Rosenberg, the protest's spokesperson reportedly said.

30,000 Haredim Protest – Some Riot – In Jerusalem
Shmarya Rosenberg • Failedmessiah.com

At least 30,000 haredim held a mass vigil tonight in front of the main IDF recruitment center in the Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem to protest the looming draft of haredi yeshiva students into the military or national civilian service.

But the supposed vigil – which was organized by the vehemently anti-Zionist haredi umbrella organization Edah Haredit and the most conservative of the non-hasidic haredi faction heads, Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach – quickly became a riot.

Media reports say that haredi rioters burned torched large garbage dumpsters and hurled rocks and other objects – including a smoke grenade and glass bottles – at police, journalists and at haredi IDF soldiers who staged a small counter-protest.

Police had to use water cannon to disperse the crowd.

At least ten police officers were injured, two of whom were hospitalized in moderate condition.

Three haredi rioters were also injured.

At least ten haredi rioters have been arrested so far.

“Tens of thousands are taking part in the haredi response to the Peri Committee [which is finalizing haredi draft legislation]. We say 'no' to the enlistment of yeshiva students, even if all of us will be forced to go to jail en masse. We have survived for 2,000 years and will survive this spiritual destruction as well.…It is clear to all of us that [the haredi rioters are] just a small number of protesters in comparison to the tens of thousands God fearing protesters. We have no control over the youth,” Pini Rosenberg, the protest's spokesperson, told Ynet.

"It would have been much calmer here if the police hadn't shown up at all. The stones were thrown by around 20 bored guys. Nonetheless it was blasphemous,” a 15-year-old haredi yeshiva student claimed.

A small group of secular anarchists joined the protest on the haredi side.

Border Patrol officers initially formed a human barrier between the rioters and the recruitment center.

"We will use a heavy hand against attempts to disturb the peace, and we will settle the score with anyone who tries to damage property or hurt anyone,” Jerusalem District Police Commander Yossi Prienti told media, including Ha’aretz, Thursday night.    

The protest was dubbed “The Gathering of the Tens of Thousands" by Edah Haredit even though Edah Haredit’s permit only allowed 5,000 people to participate.

"Your participation in the gathering of the tens of thousands is the only alternative to saving our youth from the edict of enlistment!…The government's edicts threaten the future of the people of Israel in their entirety…this is the time to have resolve and prevent these edicts!!!" a pashkvil (large wall poster) promoting the protest reportedly said.

Edah Haredi rabbis, led by Rabbi Yitzhak Tuvia Weiss, also signed leaflets distributed in haredi neighborhoods ahead of the protest calling on haredim to go out and protest against the government which “seems determined to eliminate and abolish religion and Torah in Israel in every shape and form…,” Ha’aretz reported.

The only so-called mainstream haredi leader to participate in the protest was Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who lost his bid for leadership of non-hasidic haredim last year to haredi leader Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman.

Auerbach called on his followers to "gather and to defend ourselves as a bastion against this religious persecution that seeks to uproot the Torah from Israel, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass, the Torah will not be replaced, it is our lives and the length of our days. We will not rest nor be silent until with God's help all these harsh decrees will be cancelled,” Auerbach reportedly said.

Despite strongly opposing the draft, mainstream haredi leaders Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, and the hasidic rebbes who are not members of Edah Haredit all refused to participate in the protest despite energetic attempts from Edah Haredit and Auerbach to draw them in.

Update 10:53 pm CDT – Finance Minister Yair Lapid reacted to the protest and riot during a video chat he held with Israelis Thursday night.

“It wont help them. Enlistment is not an edict. My son enlisted and I enlisted. You wanted us to fulfill our promises, we will make good on our promises. There will be an equal shouldering of the burden in Israel,” Lapid reportedly said.

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Comments

[ah-pee-chorus]

++and at haredi IDF soldiers who staged a small counter-protest.++

thats a great sign. im sure it took a lot of courage for charedi soldiers to publicly defy the gedolim. (assuming these were not just the charedi DL crowd.)

even if they were chardal, i applaud them.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

Oops! By my count, three comments have vanished from this thread. Is this due to Typepad problems?

[Robert J. Barron, Attorney-at-Law]

Parasites. Nothing but parasites, wrapped in the cloak of "holiness".

If not for the IDF, there woueld NOT BE a State of Israel. Which country would subsidize these haredim, as they sit on their ass all day, read the Torah, and have eight or nine kids?

Syria?
Egypt?
Saudi Arabia?
The US?
Russia?

Biting the hand that feeds....then again, what DO you expect of ignorant, self-centered children?

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

"We have survived for 2,000 years and will survive this spiritual destruction as well.…"

Well, this is a lie. Charedim haven't been around for 2,000 years.

"The protest was dubbed 'The Gathering of the Tens of Thousands' by Edah Haredit [...]"

The same survival strategy as the cicadas.

Billions of cicadas come out from underground in such overwhelming numbers, even flocks of hungry birds can't eat them all. Overwhelming numbers -- not advancement as a species -- has ensured their survival since the Pleistocene.

Like the Charedim, individually, they have no defenses, having dropped those long ago in the service of the collective.

The Chareidim and the cicadas show that organization and timing is the key to survival. The errant few who venture out on their own without the collective are no match for the birds; or in the case of the Chareidim, the police.

[Jeff]

>Biting the hand that feeds....then again, what DO you expect of ignorant, self-centered children?

Precisely.

[Jeff]

Of course, the comments on Ynet contain the requisite remarks from Haredim claiming that without them, Israel wouldn't exist, as their study of "Toyreh" is what *really* supports and protects the nation (a nation they insist has no right to exist).

One of the comments stood out for me in particular:

"The jealousy of the secular who dress up like haredim, mingle among the crowd and cause the violence so that the media will be able to claim there was violence. Without these provocateurs haredi protests are always peaceful."

There are no words for this level of stupidity. There is no way to break through a delusion so profound.

I hope the government continues to stand firm in its resolve, and that it deals harshly with these protests wherever they occur.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

@Jeff "The jealousy of the secular who dress up like haredim, mingle among the crowd [...]"

How many days without a bath would a "secular" have to go in order to blend in with a crowd of Chareidim? I mean, wouldn't the scent of soap, deodorant and mouthwash be a dead give away that there was an imposter mingling amongst them?

[Yochanan Lavie]

Nigritude: Your comparison of chareidim to cicadas is inflammatory. Cicadas are harmless creatures who only cause minor inconveniences every 17 years or so.

[S M L]

"...Police had to use water cannon to disperse the crowd...."

A few days ago I commented that this was bound to happen - that these people would get sufficiently out of control to require such use. Rubber bullets will be next. On the plus side, at least some of them received a bath courtesy of the police. The rioting will serve to affirm for the majority of Israelis that Haredim constitute a fifth column, effectively an enemy within.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Apologies to: We're An American Band by Grand Funk Railroad:

In the desert for forty days,
Shavuot at Har Sinai put me in a daze.
Sweet, sweet Rebbe, wearing his hat,
He started to growl like Yassir Arafat.
Up all night 'cause of Lapid,
I got to tell you, work ain't what we need.
Oy, Jews on welfare, let'd go fight,
As long as we can make a big scene tonight.

CHORUS
We're a chareidi clan.
We're a chareidi clan.
We're coming to your town, we're dressed like Polish clowns.
We're a chareidi clan.

Like young cicadas in yarmulkes,
We're waitin' to start our hullabaloo.
Feelin' good, feelin' right, it's Saturday night,
The sea of black coats ran out-a-sight.
Now, these bochurim, they had a plan,
They was out to fight the ladies dressed like men. [Women of the Wall]
They said, "Come on, Jews, let's get it on,"
And we proceeded to tear that Kotel down.

CHORUS 2x

We a chareidi clan, Oy vey. 3x

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

@YL "Cicadas are harmless creatures who only cause minor inconveniences every 17 years or so."

Periodical cicadas come about every 17 or 13 years. In the U.S., the cicadas of Brood II are beginning to appear. It is one of 15 surviving regional broods.

I thought the clustering of the Chareidim in Israel and the emergence of Brood II in the U.S. were more than a coincidence.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

@YL "Apologies to: We're An American Band by Grand Funk Railroad:"

As usual, excellent work.

Caveat: I am not a songwriter, but, if I may humbly submit a suggestion. I think your chorus needs an extra syllable:

CHORUS
We're a chareidi clan.
We're a chareidi clan.

Try this:

CHORUS
From the original song:
We're an A - mer - i - can band
We're a cha - rei - di - she clan
We're a chareidishe clan

Just my two cents.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Thanks, N.U.

[ruthie]

and of course...i have to see this in all the international press too.
stupid idiots.
why can't they just be TRULY religious....meaning good, kind and gentle.

[(The other) Eli]

" Police had to use water cannon to disperse the crowd."

It wasn't to disperse the crowd. They did it so those filthy haredim will finally bathe.

[S M L]

They ought to have hit 'em with some sort of detergent foam and really gotten them clean.

[David]

"30,000 Haredim Protest"

Herein lies the power of the Hasidim. While the seculars are like an army of privates - leaderless, the Hasidim have powers in numbers and organization. A larger beast with its head cut off is no match for a smaller one with all its limbs attached.

Posted by: David | May 16, 2013 at 09:44 PM

.

"Media reports say that haredi rioters burned torched large garbage dumpsters"

Oh my god! Not the innocent trash bins. They have B"H had quite a period of quiet - I thought that their abuse would be a thing of the past. Oh the humanity!

Posted by: David | May 16, 2013 at 09:48 PM

.

"Oops! By my count, three comments have vanished from this thread. Is this due to Typepad problems?

Posted by: Nigritude Ultramarine | May 16, 2013 at 11:13 PM "

Typepad has been going downhill. First was the loss of the icons, then HTML tags were lost, then login problems and now posts being dropped.

[Jeff]

"Typepad has been going downhill. First was the loss of the icons, then HTML tags were lost, then login problems and now posts being dropped."

TypePad is buggy, and I seem to have had a comment lost as well, but I think Shmarya turned off HTML tags because people kept forgetting to close them and entire comment threads became italicized.