The protest is another in a long line of similar protests and violent street assaults allegedly carried out by the gang and by the Atra Kadisha graves protection organization.
Above: Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch
Haredi Gang Dumps Fish Oil Outside Leading Rabbi's Home In Latest Battle Over Non-Existent Jewish Graves
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Fifteen members of the haredi Sikarii gang demonstrated last night outside the home of the #2 leader of the Mea Shearim-based virulently anti-Zionist Edah Haredit haredi umbrella organization, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, Yeshiva World reported.
The Sikrikim act as Edah Haredit street thugs and modesty enforcers, and also extort shop owners, real estate developers and builders.
The gang carried signs condemning Sternbuch, with one labeling him a “Reform rabbi.” They also reportedly spread fish oil near the entrance of Sternbuch’s home.
The protest is another in a long line of similar protests and violent street assaults carried out by the gang and by the Atra Kadisha graves protection organization, which is also essentially an arm of Edah Haredit.
Edah Haredit’s top rabbi, Moshe Tuvia Weiss, opposes the construction of a new housing complex in Beit Shemesh on the ground that there are ancient Jewish graves at the site that are being disturbed.
Archaeologists, the Israel Antiquities Authority and a slew of prominent haredi rabbis, including Sternbuch, disagree with Weiss and want the work on the new apartment buildings to continue.
Early last year, the elderly haredi developer of the apartment complex was severely beaten in a home invasion by, it is believed, the Sicarii gang, and Sternbuch’s son, who is also a rabbi, was physically attacked by gang members on a Mea Shearim street and barely escaped with his life.
In addition to those attacks and other similar attacks, there have been many protests, some of them at the construction site and some at places like Sternbuch’s house. Many of these demonstrations have also been violent.
Israeli media has caught Atra Kadisha allegedly extorting builders and archaeologists, and the Sicarii gang’s exploits are well known and documented. Even so, police rarely make any arrests of these gang members and those who are arrested rarely serve more than a few days in jail while awaiting arraignment.