Dozens of Sicarii gang members reportedly demonstrated last night in
Bnei Brak outside the home of 99-year-old haredi leader Rabbi Aharon
Leib Shteinman where they shouted and waved signs
demanding that haredim boycott the upcoming Israeli elections and fought with bystanders. Based in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim and in Beit Shemesh, the Sikrikim have no real base in Bnei Brak.
Sikrikim outside the home of Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman in Bnei Brak before the protest turned violent
Dozens Of Sicarii Gang Members Protest Outside Haredi Leader's Home Demanding Election Boycott, Fight With Bystanders
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Dozens of Sicarii gang members reportedly demonstrated last night in Bnei Brak outside the home of 99-year-old haredi leader Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman and fought with bystanders.
The Sikrikim – who are based in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim and in Beit Shemesh and who have no real base in Bnei Brak – shouted and waved signs demanding that haredim boycott the upcoming Israeli elections, Arutz Sheva reported.
Shteinman is the spiritual head of the United Torah Judaism political party’s Degel HaTorah faction, and called Wednesday for all haredim to campaign for UTJ and to bring out the vote in force on election day, January 22.
A fight reportedly broke out between the often violent Sikrikim and bystanders.
Police arrived and dispersed the Sikrikim and others who were violent.
Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, the Williamsburg Satmar Rebbe, has promised to disburse hundreds of thousands of dollars to haredim who promise not to vote in the election and who turn in the their government identity cards before the polls open on election day to specially designated locations manned by his designated aides. He also promised similarly large amounts of money to yeshivas that prevent their students from voting in the elections.
The Sikrikim are closely linked to both the vehemently anti-zionist Neturei Karta group and to Satmar, which is also stridently anti-Zionist.
The Sikrikim, who often serve as the riot troops of the Mea Shearim-based umbrella organization Eidah Haredit, are thought to be funded in part by Satmar, and the police uncovered documents and evidence of money laundering said to show this link in arrests made last year in relation to an extensive money laundering scam allegedly run by senior haredi community members highly placed in Eidah Haredit’s lay leadership.
Teitelbaum is planning on arriving in Israel in the days leading up to the election.
According to some reports, he plans on arriving with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to disburse.
Hiddush, the secular freedom from religion group, has called for Teitelbaum’s arrest on election tampering charges when he lands in Israel.
Senior Satmar sources have claimed in response that Teitelbaum will arrive with several “American senators” in tow to help shield him from arrest.
There are unconfirmed reports that Israeli police intend to arrest Teitelbaum if he indeed arrives in Israel to try to disrupt the election.