The haredi rioters targeted Women of the Wall ads on the buses, enraged because some of the 12-year-old girls in those ads were wearing yarmulkes (skullcaps) and because female faces were being publicly shown.
Haredim Riot, Attack Egged Buses, Smash Windows, Puncture Tires, Enraged Over Women Of The Wall Ads
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A mob of about 50 haredim rioted in the Geulah-Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem tonight, blocking traffic, attacking public buses full of passengers, puncturing their tires, smashing their windows and vandalizing the buses’ placard ads.
The haredi rioters targeted Women of the Wall ads on the buses, enraged because some of the 12-year-old girls in those ads are shown wearing yarmulkes (skullcaps), holding a Torah scroll, and because female faces were being publicly shown.
For several years, the Egged public bus comapny refused to run ads containing any depiction of any females, even cartoon characters, even if modestly dressed. It took a court case initiated by the Yerushalmim Movement to force Egged to run ads depicting females, but Egged only complied with the High Court of Justice's direction after the Government of Israel agreed to pay for any damage to the ads or the buses caused by haredi rioters. The first ads in years that contained depictions of women only began running last week. But smaller acts of vandalism against those ads from the Yerushalmim Movement immediately ensued.
Women of the Wall's ads, however, are much more provocative to haredim.
A passenger on the #1 bus which runs to through the haredi neighborhood and on to the Kotel (Western Wall) lashed out at the haredi rioters.
"I did not manage to [get to the Kotel during] the pilgrimage festival of Sukkot, now I've tried [to get there] but these extremists also prevented from getting to the Kotel now,” the passenger reportedly told Behadrei Haredim.
But despite the widespread damage to the buses, the danger to the passengers, and the rioting, police only made one arrest.
"It is sad to see how the haredim take the law into their own hands in the name of Judaism and resort to violence against women…and vandalizes anything that is inconsistent with their worldview,” Women of the Wall reportedly said in a statement, adding that it responsible haredi leadership had to speak out against this violence and condemn it.
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