Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barakat met with Regional Commander of the Israeli Police for the Jerusalem Region, Commissioner Yoram Halevi and asked him to use all necessary force against illegal protesters in the capital.
“The time has come to put an end to the continued disruption of the day-to-day lives of the residents of Jerusalem,” said Barkat. “The right to protest is a sanctified right when it is done in accordance with the law. Anyone who breaks the law, for whatever reason, needs to be dealt with and with a heavy hand. The police need to use whatever force is at their disposal in order to dispell any and all illegal protests,” Barkat continued.
The Mayor then empowered the police by reiterating their responsibility to ensure the public peace and daily routine. “I call upon the police department to ensure the daily routine of the residents of this city, while allowing the citizens their right to protest, so long as it is done lawfully. I will also be asking the national government to create a more stringent system of punishment and provide the police with more tools to have at their disposal to prevent protesters from harming the public.”
When asked why the mayor hadn’t done anything against the protests for the past year, a spokesperson from his office said: “He has been working in the background to calm tensions and try to prevent protests.”
Members of the Hitorerut party, who have been critical of Barkat ever since leaving the city council leadership coalition last month suggested an alternative narrative. “Dozens of our (Hitorerut) party members held a counter-protest in front of the Peleg protesters and called on Mayor Barkat to condemn the actions of his friends in the Peleg faction. It is possible that an attempt to gain a seat in the national Likud party has made Barkat want to take a stand against the Charedi faction so as not to seem like he capitulated to the Charedim in Jerusalem.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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10 Responses
What a joke…..rather than showing a backbone, Barakat has allowed these terrorists to operate for 10 months with virtually no effort by police to squash them and their leadership. If he is really serious, he would start at the top and jail the rabbonim and askanim who are organizing and encouraging this travesty but that would require some political courage which he lacks. They are threatening public safety and causing millions of NIS losses to individual and the economy. If he doesn’t want the local police to act, authorize the IDF to take action under the laws governing terrorist attacks, which is what these are.
I agree emphatically. I recognize civil disobedience as a right and privilege. But they are protesting against thousands of innocent people trying to go about their daily lives. It is time that they should be stopped. I had hoped that their rabbinical leadership would have told them that enough is enough. But it seems they felt deprived of their outlet of rage, so they decided to continue it all with additional gusto. Thus, the only route is to stop them with more force. These kalei daas don’t realize they will forfeit a lot, and lose their freedoms. That lesson will be painful for them, and I do not pity them for bringing this onto themselves.
I don’t understand,
If you believe, learning Torah in Yeshiva protects the Medina from our Arab enemies so why
don’t you believe learning Torah protects the Bnei Yeshiva from the Tziyoinim?.
Does the Torah protect us only from Arabs and not from Tziyoinim?
Why the need to leave the Beis Hamidrash?
barkat would never say to use violence against Arabs, he is a leftist.
They are free to engage in peaceful demonstrations but the mindless leadership of Peleg who sends them out to protest deliberately encourages violence and disruption. At that point, they transcend from legal protests to civil disobedience to outright terrorism and both the demonstrators and their leadership should be squashed. That includes any rav who somehow claims his “gadlus” provides a “get out of jail free card”. The police seem paralyzed in the face of political messages to “go easy” on the demonstrators for fear of offending some rabbonim. Too bad, they deserve to be offended for the chilul hashem they are creating.
It is unwise to use force against unarmed protests. It tends to make those protesting look like saintly martyrs, and makes the police look like tyrannical bullies. The experiences of the American civil rights movements and the Indian independence movement, both back in the 20th century, explain why police try to minimize use of force against civil disobedience.
Want to stop these lowlife Peleg idiots from protesting and disrupting our daily lives? Give orders to the police to rip their pants off. Then you will see how fast they run home from the streets.
I live here and don’t like the protests at all – yes it disrupts my daily life and I also think they should be allowed to demonstrate where they get permission
But – CisreStee the way u write is IHO also disgusting
and as u don;t live here – I must say that if they act a certain more brutle way to the Pelege protestors – they should do the same for all
One technique used a decade ago against violent chareidi protests was to use bright red and green spray paint (water based) on the stremilach and borselinos of demonstrators which could never be cleaned off. It actually served as a deterrent until the bochurim began wearing clear plastic “rainhats” which minimized the deterrent effect.
Just a couple of police dogs will do the trick. Yeshiva boys cross the street when they see a pet puppy.
I do feel bad for the police guys, they are trying to use peaceful dispersal orders to a crowd far larger then they can manage, shouting dispicable and hurtful slogans ( why should a cop be called a nazi in doing his day job? Why is that less of a crime then in other civilized countries?) With risk of injury and no helmets or sheilds?