Jerusalem Cuts Off City Services To Haredim Over Violent Protests

Due to "a long list of violent incidents, including attacks on municipal workers and the vandalism of city facilities at the hands of the haredi protesters, the city has decided to remove employees from these neighborhoods and immediately halt all activities until the violence and lack of concern for human life and property ends," said the municipality.

Jerusalem cuts off services to Haredi neighborhoods due to violent protests
Hundreds gather to demonstrate against relocation of graves for Ashkelon ER; at least 30 arrested in last two days.
Liel Kyzer, Yair Ettinger and Nir Hasson • Ha'aretz

The Jerusalem municipality on Sunday evening cut off services to a number of ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, after hundreds of protesters clashed with police during demonstrations against the state's decision to relocate ancient remains buried at the site of a planned emergency room in Ashkelon.

Due to "a long list of violent incidents, including attacks on municipal workers and the vandalism of city facilities at the hands of the Haredi protesters, the city has decided to remove employees from these neighborhoods and immediately halt all activities until the violence and lack of concern for human life and property ends," said the municipality.

Around 350 people participated in the protest in Sabbath Square, an ultra-Orthodox area of the capital. Some of the demonstrators lit trash cans on fire, forcing the area to be closed to traffic. At least five people were arrested over the course of the evening.

"They are arresting righteous Yeshiva students for protesting the desecration of graves," said Rabbi Yitzhak Tuvia Weiss, the leader of the Haredi group that organized the protest. "It is they [the police] who should be arrested."

At least 30 ultra-Orthodox demonstrators were arrested late Saturday and Sunday during protests at the site, where human remains believed to be thousands of years old are set to be removed to make room for the new Barzilai Medical Center ward.

The controversial plan has sparked outrage among Israel'sultra-Orthodox community, as it views the removal of buried remains as sacrilege.

The Israel Antiquities Authority on Sunday said preliminary findings from the excavation at the site of the planned emergency room reveal that the ancient remains buried there are not in fact Jewish, but from the Byzantine era.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Sunday said that the government's decision to construct the bombproof emergency room at Barzilai Medical Center is in the public's best interest, despite opposition from the ultra-Orthodox community.

"After the Second Lebanon War, we made a decision to erect a new emergency room next to Barzilai Medical Center," said Netanyahu at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. "There is an important ultra-Orthodox public that is offended by this. We reached a decision to implement [the plan] and the general public's interest is the deciding factor."

Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush on Sunday visited the medical center to register his opposition to the project, calling the excavations an "embarrassment and a disgrace".

"It was possible to find alternatives to digging up graves that may be Jewish," Porush said. "It would have been preferable to have found a compromise."

Netanyahu had refused permission for a preliminary check to ascertain that the graves were not Jewish, Porush said. In response to Porush's comments, the head of the Ashkelon municipal council, Benny Vaknin, said: "The real shame is with the people who delayed construction of the bombproof emergency room, while during Operation Cast Lead people could have died…That is the biggest disgrace."

[Hat Tip: HaNavon.]