A group of haredi tourists reportedly stripped down to their bathing
suits and went for a swim in a clearly marked memorial fountain
dedicated to 73 IDF soldiers who died when two military helicopters
collided in 1997.
Haredi Tourists Desecrate Memorial To 73 Fallen Soldiers
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Is it proper behavior to use the water feature of a national monument memorializing 73 dead soldiers as a swimming pool?
If you’re a haredi tourist, the answer to the question is, apparently, yes.
And that has angered Israelis who are sick and tired of the haredi failure to serve the country, and the many haredi insults and attacks against those who do.
Yesterday, a group of haredi tourists reportedly stripped down to their bathing suits and went for a swim in a clearly marked memorial fountain dedicated to 73 IDF soldiers who died when two military helicopters collided in 1997.
"These haredim knew very well that the site was a memorial for the disaster that happened 16 years ago. Some tourists passed by and reminded them that they were swimming at a memorial site for soldiers, and [the haredim] responded that they were aware and undisturbed by that. [The non-haredi tourists] told [the haredim] that it wasn't very respectful to bathe half-naked at a place meant to memorialize soldiers, but that didn't make much of an impression. At that point, several residents from the nearby town also started showing up, and asked [the haredim] to leave if they wouldn't respect the victims. Instead of recognizing our pain, their response was: 'When an Indian person wants to mark a memorial he lights a candle and prays Psalms. Memorials constitute idolatry,’” an eyewitness told Israel Hayom.
Israel’s Defense Ministry condemned the haredi tourists’ behavior and expressed "disgust and shock.”
"We expect all of Israel's citizens to respect memorial sites and the memory of the fallen, and stress that the desecration of a memorial constitutes a violation of the law," the Defense Ministry wrote in a statement released to the media.