According to eyewitness accounts from the Eida Chareidis shabbos protest at Intel, including reports from persons not members or supporters of the Eida, the protestors kept their word and maintained a civil orderly presence, as was promised to Tzion District police commander, Bruno Franco.
Franco met with rabbonim on Thursday, explaining they gave him their word the protest would not be disorderly, and they kept their word. It appears the at-risk youths, the delinquents if you may, were there, seeking action, stirring up the scene, as they frequently do.
Their efforts were indeed effective, resulting in Intel security personnel using pepper spray, injuring tens of chareidi protestors. Members of the press report their cars were damaged, by rocks and other objects, and some sustained light injuries as the situation escalated.
Police are being blamed for not be prepared, but Franco denies the charges, insisting he men were ready and performed as expected.
Eida leaders are signaling the Intel battle will not be laid to rest, insisting they will not permit the continued expansion of chilul shabbos in the city.
MK (Meretz) Nitzan Horowitz is outraged, explaining he fears if chareidim continue to harass Intel, the hi-tech giant may pull out of Jerusalem and the loss of jobs would be catastrophic.
Intel began operating in the Har Chotzvim Hi-Tech Park in 1985, and its ‘sterile room’ operates 24/7, leading many to question why the shabbos battle today, explaining the operation of portions of the Jerusalem facility on shabbos is not a new development. Intel Jerusalem employs about 600 professionals and the company nationwide provides employment for 6,470 people.
The head of the Vaad L’maan Shabbos, Rabbi Yitzchak Goldknopf appears equally angered, insisting the tzibur acted responsibly as instructed by rabbonim shlita and it is time to bring the delinquent youths under control.
Speaking with Galei Tzahal’s (Army Radio) Nir Raskin, the rav acknowledges that he is now aware the factory has been operating on shabbos for the past 20 years, but he and his colleagues were unaware of this fact.
When asked if this new front has been undertaken to shift attention from the failed battle concerning the city’s operating Karta parking lot on shabbos, Rav Goldknopf stated this is simply not so, emphasizing this is a legitimate battle “L’shem Shamayim” and nothing less.
The rav stressed that the fringe element responsible for the violence is not acting in accordance to the instructions of rabbonim and their actions are not welcome.
Intel officials view the situation as perplexing, explaining they are maintaining the religious status-quo and from their end, nothing has changed.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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11 Responses
Which community do these “at-risk-youths” come from? Check out the last 5 lines of Masechta Sukkah.
Which community do these “delinquent youth” come from ? Please refer to the last 5 lines of Masechta Sukkah where the actions of Bilga the daughter of a Cohen were attributed to what she heard in her house growing up.
#1: I’ll take the Gedolei Yisroel Shlita who not only called for the Shabbos Rally, but actually attended it, over your anonymous rishus against them.
#3: There are Jews working for Intel in Yerushlayim Ir HaKodesh.
charliehall
intel is a non jewish company but employ alot of jewish workers and most of them, although not frum, would rather not work on shabbos, but might do so if they would be pressured to
These demonstrations frequently degenerate into violence. I doubt that this has escaped the notice of the Rabbanim who call for the demonstrations. The hooliganism comes from within the Hareidi community, and calling it a fringe does nothing to mitigate that fact. These are not disaffected Tel-Aviv youth.
These “fringe elements are a convenient scapegoat for Hareidi violence; they are brought out whenever anyone is seriously hurt by stone-throwing or other incidents. However, in periods of quiet, the Hareidi community denies that they have any problems with disaffected youth; their world is perfect, without any of the social ills that plaque other portions of Israel society. Well, you can’t have it both ways.
Perhaps if the hareidi community would put their efforts into dealing with their own “delinquent youth”–rather than focusing on closing parking lots and private companies or promoting conspiracy theories about hospitals that treat them gratis–they could earn a little more respect from the nonhareidi communities. And as for the Hareidi “leaders”, we should let them look to their own communities before accepting their directives toward the rest of Israeli society.
Jerusalem has a very heterogeneous population. Mayoral elections, for example, depend heavily on the national-religious vote. Of course, all the political groups, including the hareidim, understand this, which is why Meir Parush’s campaign slogans were gerared to promises to be the mayor of “all the city’s residents”.
If Nir Barkat has the slightest amount of political sense, he will hold fast. After all, he has nothing to lose from the Hareidim–they wouldn’t vote for him if he was running against the satan himself. If he plays his cards right, he will be able to use these demonstrations to win votes from the rest of the residents of the city when running against a Hareidi candidate. He can accuse them of attempting to drive businesses out of the city, incitement to violence, and all sorts of other activities which are basically true. He can show the television footage of hareidim yelling “shabbes”, “nazi”, and all the rest of their usual slogans. Showing trash cans burning and Hareidim throwing dirty diapers will also be a nice touch. That will absolutely destroy any hopes that a hareidi candidate has of appealing to a nonhareidi, and should ensure that hareidi control of the city government will be delayed for quite some time.
starwolf, Many of the secularists will be so exasperated from all the Shabbos Rallies,thay they (along with the Mechallel Shabbos businesses) will move out of Yerushlayim Ir HaKodesh, depriving Barkat of his base.
This will just continue (and encourage) the steady emigration of the secularists from Jerusalem that has been ongoing for a long time now.
Barkat has much to lose.
The things that will convince nonhareidim to stay in Jerusalem are:
1. jobs
2. the knowledge that the government is taking a firm hand toward hooligans. Nonhareidim are well aware of hareidi hooliganism, we have been living with it for decades. What people wish to see is that the perpetrators of these acts be locked up.
By the way, the nonhareidi population of Jerusalem is the city’s principal tax base. I wouldn’t be so smug about them moving away, as the quality and quantity of the city’s services will only degrade further than it already has during the past several years.
Actually, many charedim voted for Barkat when he ran against R’ Meir Porush. The Gerrer Rebbi supported Barkat over R’ Porush due to some feud that had in the past.
On the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8365923.stm it says “Intel, the world’s biggest maker of computer chips, ringed its offices with barbed wire before Saturday’s rally. There were no reports of violence.”
So, what’s going on?!
I was very glad to hear about this matter because obviously the crowd that is protesting is about to start making large purchases of Intel-powered internet-connected computers, and want to be certain that all the Torah learning and good things they will add to society using these computers and communication should be built upon a very solid Shomer Shabbos pipeline, soup to nuts.
Per these subsequent details, obviously their intended contributions will include matters for which even the work of a gentile worker on our Shabbos would taint it.