As more than a dozen gays and lesbians lie wounded, and on the day after two others are buried, haredim accuse gays of incitement.
Matthew Wagner • THE JERUSALEM POST
Reactions in haredi news media outlets Sunday to the fatal shooting attack against Tel Aviv homosexuals varied from total denial to a focus on how the incident was being used to bash haredim.
The Internet site 'Hadarei Haredim', which has a chat forum and reports internal haredi news, led Sunday morning with the headline "The Anti-Haredi Incitement Club: the police are still investigating but the club's community is already accusing - the murder is a result of haredi incitement."
Kikar Hashabbat, another online haredi news site, led with an editorializing piece entitled, "Our blood has been cheapened: the incitement parade against the haredim has begun."
The article continues: "Under a façade of love, the abnormal community in Israel spreads hatred and blackballs the entire haredi sector."
In recent weeks, haredim here and abroad have been subject to considerable negative media exposure, and the reactions these stories have generated have put the haredi community on the defensive.
The spate of bad news began with the conviction of a haredi woman from Beit Shemesh -known as the "Taliban mother" - for abusing her children.
In addition, haredim have persistently, and sometimes violently, demonstrated in Jerusalem to protest the opening of a parking lot on Shabbat, while the story of a haredi woman accused of purposely starving her three-year-old son led to even more serious riots that included destruction of public property.
Concurrently, in the US, several haredi rabbis and community leaders were arrested on charges of money laundering and trafficking in human organs.
Some haredi leaders have reacted by blaming the secular news media and the secular Israel public for tendentiously singling out the haredi community for censure.
Even some veteran secular journalists, such Nahum Barnea of Yediot Aharonot, have admitted that the local press has gotten carried away with haredi-bashing.
Against this background, the homosexual community's accusations against Shas MKs were seen as another attempt at negative stereotyping of haredim.
Sources in the gay community have placed some of the blame for the attack on Shas, the Sephardi haredi party, whose members have made disparaging remarks about homosexuals in the past. Shas Chairman Eli Yishai and Shas MK Nissim Ze'ev, who have made headlines in recent years for their verbal attacks on homosexuals, were singled out for special criticism.
In February 2006, Yishai called homosexuality a disease.
"Up to a few years ago they would be exempt from military service. It is clearly a disease. I did not determine this, medical science did. It's a disease. The Torah talks about its severity, and I wish them a speedy recovery, I'm not hiding it," he said at the time.
Yishai also expressed his hope that a medicine would be found to cure homosexuality.
In June 2007, Ze'ev suggested setting up special teams of psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers who would help homosexuals return to normal life, "just like drug rehabilitation."
In January 2008, Ze'ev said homosexuals should be put in rehabilitation centers together with drug addicts and alcoholics. He said that homosexuality was a "plague that may destroy Jewish Israel," adding that this "plague" should be dealt with "just as the Health Ministry is dealing with bird flu."
In its official response Sunday, Shas condemned Saturday night's attack.
"Murder, understandably, is against the Torah way. Any attack is against the religion of Israel," the party said.
Meanwhile, a senior editor at the haredi daily Hamodia said that his paper would totally ignore the incident.
"We do not want our children asking questions about that community," said the editor, who was interviewed on condition of anonymity.
"Our philosophy is to stay away from that entire issue," added the editor. "Someone who walks into a perfumer's store comes out smelling good. But someone who walks into a tanner's comes out smelling bad."
A sentence like this has no business being in a news report, unless it is a quote:
Even some veteran secular journalists, such Nahum Barnea of Yediot Aharonot, have admitted that the local press has gotten carried away with haredi-bashing.
Yet, there it is. Barnea "admitted"? What Barnea did is assert, not admit. If Barnea wrote he himself was guilty of this, then it could be said Barnea admitted his own guilt. This could perhaps be stretched to include his own newspaper, although that is tenuous at best.
This isn't to say there isn't some anti-haredi bias in the media. There is. But, as the Post shows, there is far greater anti-secular and anti-gay bias in the haredi media.
As for gay incitement against haredim, let's take a moment to look at few examples of haredi quotes about gays in addition to those mentioned by the Post:
"Homosexuals are evil criminals who have no place with the God of Israel." – Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch.
Homosexual are "the lowest of people." – The Chief Rabbis of Israel, Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger.
'We trembled in horror at the news of this menacing plot devised by a minority of our lost brothers, who have agreed to do the lowest, most abominable of acts – acts which are the polar opposite of the value of modesty the nation of Israel has been blessed with.…
"They have dared to parade in the holy city and temple to display their rebellion against the laws of the holy Torah and human morality, embraced by the majority of the world's nations, crushing of the feelings of millions who hurt and grieve this desecration, fearful of the horrible dangers concealed in this sinful act against the existence of our people." – The Chief Rabbis of Israel, Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger.
"If [a homosexual] does not respond to conversion therapy…nor is one strong enough to to withstand a lifetime of temptation and is sure to stumble at some point and engage in a forbidden homosexual act, then, just perhaps, the Torah condones 'suicide al kiddush Hashem.'…[But] before even thinking about implementing [this], consult a genuinely Orthodox rabbi (and a good frum therapist as well)." – Rabbi Dovid Kornreich, a teacher at Yeshivas Toras Moshe, a mainstream haredi post high school yeshiva for American students, located in Jerusalem.
"All those involved in the matter, those of impure souls and those helping them and guarding them, they will feel in their souls a curse, a bad spirit will come over them and haunt them, they will never be cleansed of their sins, from the judgment of God, in their bodies, their souls and their finances." – Edah Haredit.
And, of course haredim rioted violently for days to prevent gays from holding a gay pride parade in Jerusalem.
But that haredi violence allegedly goes even further:
…Eight years ago, when a youth group was established in the town of Hadera, we were ambushed by dozens of haredi thugs organized by the local Shas chairman. They raided the branch, beat us up, threatened us, and threw us out. It worked out for them; a few gay teenagers cannot face hate-filled brigades.…
So, let's recap. Haredi rabbis said gays:
1. Are "evil criminals."
2. Have "no place with the God of Israel."
3. Will "never be cleansed of their sins."
4. Are the "lowest of people."
5. Engaged in the "lowest, most abominable acts."
6. Are involved in a "menacing plot" that "threatens the existence" of the Jewish nation.
7. Should commit suicide if they can't be "cured."
And haredim are upset they are singled out for creating an atmosphere that encourages violence against homosexuals?
Please.