2 Haredim Arrested In Violent Beit Shemesh Protest
Two haredim were reportedly arrested yesterday in Beit Shemesh during a violent protest against construction at a site that a tiny minority of haredim believe contains ancient Jewish graves.
File photo: A haredi man being arrested at a protest at the Golovnnitz Project in Beit Shemesh in November 2013
2 Haredim Arrested In Violent Beit Shemesh Protest
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Two haredim were reportedly arrested yesterday in Beit Shemesh during a violent protest against construction at a site that a tiny minority of haredim believe contains ancient Jewish graves.
The protest at the Golovnitz Project by the Atra Kadisha graves protection organization, which is essentially a subsidiary of the Meah-Shearim-based Edah Haredit haredi umbrella organization, have lately reportedly been a near-daily occurrence. But yesterday, a larger number of haredim protested and a prominent local haredi rabbi joined them, making the crowd even more agitated than usual, Yeshiva World reported.
The protest turned violent and as protesters clashed with police, two haredim were arrested.
This is the same construction site was the location of often violent protests throughout much of last year.
A number of senior haredi rabbis have ruled that there are no graves being disturbed at the site, which was also cleared for construction by the Israel Antiquities Authority. But a majority of rabbis affiliated with the virulently anti-Zionist Edah Haredit disagree. Last year, their followers harassed and threatened Edah’s number two rabbi, Moshe Sternbuch – who believes construction at the site should be permitted – physically attacked Sternuch’s adult son, and savagely beat the site’s elderly haredi developer.
Atra Kadisha, Edah Haredit’s graves protection organization, was shown by Israeli news media to be a criminal organization that extorts and physically threatens developers and archeologists, and uses those threats and violent protests to get financial settlements from them. These settlements often come in the form of a developer appointing a rabbi from Atra Kadisha as the site’s rabbi and paying him and a number of his assistants large salaries for their “work” inspecting the site and making sure no graves are disturbed. Appointing a haredi rabbi who is not a member of Atra Kadisha does not end the protests or the threats. Neither do rulings from the world’s top haredi rabbis – as Sternbuch found out last year.
A video made by a protester or supporter and posted on YouTube (and here immediately below) was allegedly taken at yesterday's protest. It shows what appear to be the site's private security guards or plainclothes police clashing with non-violent haredim.
But the video covers only about two minutes or so of the protest and does not show how haredim got through the site's security perimeter or any violence that may have taken place before the two minutes or so shown in the video.
Related:
Religious zealots freaks......the video is
so stupid..... it is funny.
Posted by: Zevi | January 23, 2014 at 04:17 AM
The guy they are carrying looks like a Rasta, mon.
Posted by: Yochanan Lavie | January 23, 2014 at 09:28 AM
TOo me theese hassidim who protest in my oppinion were tottaly cut of by their elders from the real world they live in a cocoon detached from normalcontact with others who arent like them,in short they are children in a grownup body it is very sat to see so many young people destroyed by their elders who want to keep them serving them like slaves .
Posted by: jancsibacsi | January 23, 2014 at 10:16 AM
the unnecessary, one way violence bothers me.
It's hard to know the whole picture from this and I'm sure they were calling them nazis etc.. but it still bothers me.
Posted by: ah-pee-chorus | January 23, 2014 at 11:57 AM
Atra Kadisha, Edah Haredit’s graves protection organization, was shown by Israeli news media to be a criminal organization that extorts and physically threatens developers and archeologists, and uses those threats and violent protests to get financial settlements from them.
And that says it all. The developer, who is also Haredi, did the homework, received the blessings of the antiquities authority, but since he didn't pay protection they send their minions to attempt more extortion.
Security on site should have made more of an example of the two arrested.
Posted by: Alter Kocker | January 23, 2014 at 12:02 PM
"..Security on site should have made more of an example of the two arrested..."
A nice Brooklyn stomping might've made the point. These are criminal associates after all..they have to expect some rough treatment.
Posted by: S M L | January 23, 2014 at 02:23 PM
oh those 'brave' religious Zionist & their 'ideologically secular' brothers running the finance ministry are providing us with fascinating news:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4480457,00.html
Posted by: Yosef ben Matitya | January 23, 2014 at 02:48 PM
Interesting value system these Haredi "Jews" have.
Living people (even 8 year old girls), spit on them, intimidate them and call them disgusting names for no reason at all.
Dead people, protect with your life.
Posted by: R Nash | January 24, 2014 at 10:46 AM