As Israel Police engage in a national campaign to increase enforcement of Health Ministry regulations to combat the spread of the coronavirus, a disturbing incident caught on video went viral on Israeli social media, sparking widespread outrage and condemnation of the police.
Two policemen stopped a 13.5-year-old Chareidi girl on Rechov Sarei Yisrael in Jerusalem, who according to witness reports, was wearing a mask but moved it off her mouth for a minute to drink something in the hot afternoon sun.
At that moment, the policemen pounced on her and began writing out a fine for not wearing a mask. The girl burst out crying but the policemen paid no attention to her and ignored a passerby who stopped and protested their treatment of the young girl.
At a certain point, one man who saw what was going on, pointed out that one of the policemen wasn’t wearing his name tag, as required by law, and therefore wasn’t authorized to issue a fine.
The man, Baruch Godelvaski, told Kikar H’Shabbos: “I was passing by…and after the girl told me that the policeman wants to fine her only because [she moved her mask to her chin] to drink something, I asked the policeman to issue me the fine and let the girl go. Then I saw that one of the policemen wasn’t wearing a name tag, as required by law. I mentioned it and in response, he began to push me backward.”
“I protested loudly while videoing what was going on and the policemen began to leave the scene as they were talking with the mother of the girl by phone.”
The policemen began to grow nervous as more and more people came to the girl’s defense and simply left the scene, entered their vehicle and drove off while telling the girl’s mother over the phone that they were sending the fine to her home by mail.
A witness said that policemen have been wandering around Romema in the past few days, issuing fines to children who remove their masks in order to drink. “Even worse than that, they simply look for children who are by themselves without an adult. Those policemen simply found an easy prey, a girl by herself without an adult who could protest.”
One of the witnesses said when one of the policemen saw that passerbyers were videoing the incident, he went to his police car and removed his nametag and threw in the car.
Following the incident, the mother of the girl told B’Chadrei Chareidim that her daughter is still extremely distraught. “We’ve been trying to calm her down for hours – unsuccessfully. She can’t stop crying, she’s staying in her room and doesn’t want to leave the house.”
“I respect the police who usually do wonderful work but they failed in this incident. They shouldn’t have humiliated her. And the fact is that she was definitely wearing a mask until she began drinking. Despite the fact that she immediately put it back on the policemen pounced on her. They could have approached her differently. One policeman could have approached her and asked her to put on her mask. Why were two policemen necessary – like she’s a criminal?”
Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush (UTJ) responded to the incident by saying: “I ask the public to bring me a photo of a policeman issuing a fine to a secular girl. This is besides the fact that the Knesset approved issuing a fine of NIS 500 [from the previous NIS 200], which is disproportionate and outrageous by all opinions.”
MK Bezalel Smotrich (Yamina) said: “There are too many videos seen in recent days of unnecessary stubbornness and violence in enforcing the regulations. This is not the way to have the public identify [with the cause] and increase public compliance, it causes the opposite result. Extra caution is required in the Chareidi community, which justifiably feels that it is being subject to slander and discriminatory excessive enforcement.”
Even Joint List MK Ahmad Tibi joined in the condemnation of the incident. “A Chareidi girl – so they do what they want! It would be interesting to know if they would have done this to a girl in northern Tel Aviv.”
ח"כ אחמד טיבי @Ahmad_tibi במתקפה על המשטרה: "ילדה חרדית אז אפשר! מעניין אם ככה הייתם עושים לילדה בצפון תל אביב?" pic.twitter.com/NqIFOVndOD
— אבי רבינא Avi Ravina (@AviRabina) July 6, 2020
Public Security Minister Amir Ohana, whose ministry oversees the police, published an open letter following the uproar calling on policemen to show sensitivity and common sense in their work with the public as well as calling on the public to understand that the officers are just trying to fulfill their duties.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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27 Responses
Chareidi lives matter!
Defund the police!
The girl for sure sounds like an American btw
Lock up these 2 evil policemen with Derek Chauvin in Minnesota for life without parole. They are 2 despicable pieces of scum.
This is why Israeli police are called nazis
There really needs to be some accountability in the police department. Here & there…
Welcome to Israel, where Haredim are treated like second class citizens by secular police.
These fines shouldn’t be meant to bully children!! Especially for police to bully charedi children who have enough to deal with ,living in small crowded apartments.
This must’ve been the Israeli Storm Troopers division. Were they wearing their standard-issue jackboots?
how do you fine a 13 year old?
Just wondering
Hey listen. Police have a tough job.
But if you pick fights you deserve what you get. Especially if its with children.
The girl is american, her father is a famous real estate developer. I don’t know why her mother is being so american and polite and allowing the police to even suggest to speak gently to her daughter. Her daughter did nothing wrong. There is no way to drink with a mask on.
I was very upset watching this video, but to call them Nazi’s, Storm Trooper’s?? Did we forget what Nazi’s did?
ALIYA, ALIYA EVERYONE, RESHAIM ARURIM, MAMZEIRIM,, I WAS LITERALLY CRYING WATCHING THIS CLIP OF THE YOUNG GIRL, DO THESE BA…T..DS HAVE NO FEELINGS?,
HOW DOES THE USUAL ARGUMENT GO? “JUST A FEW BAD APPLES”, YEA, MY FOOT, THEY ARE ALL ROTTEN TO THE CORE,,, SHKUTZIM, DESPICABLE,
Yesterday I read a report that the Police issued a response. Their version contradicted some details reported as if they were irrefutable “facts” in various media. Yes, some police are bad apples, and these 2 may be among them. But others are very courteous and professional. So let’s avoid blanket condemnations of entire groups as Nazi’s, storm-troopers etc. AND, let’s not be like our enemies who jumped to commit pogroms based on rumors. Media reports are often inaccurate. These police are Jews and they put themselves in danger to protect us. The laws of loshon hara and motzei shem ra apply to them as well. The 3 weeks are near and we need raise our consciousness to react as Bnai Torah, not like an out-of-control mob.
The law is the law, I see much of the same maskless behavior in Brooklyn. I can imagine the excuse was made up after the fact.
YWN keywords: ” COPS, DESPICABLE, CHAREIDI ”
YWN comments:
Super “FRUM TRASH” has entered the chat
Both here in NYC and in Israel, just as they must constantly refresh their skills at the shooting range so they should be obliged to refresh on interpersonal integration within the community to which they’re assigned. So much stress could be avoided if there were such community integration workshops. If they would understand the terrain upon which they’re assigned, much of this could be avoided.
YSAM
The police are only curious in Tel Aviv, in chareidi neighborhoods they act like the Nazis & the KGB.
Gestapo 2020
In my 24 years of experience living in Yerushalayim, more policeman act as uncaring bullies than not.
To all those defending the actions of the משטרע: even the secular media is protesting this case.
#4, Nazis hauled Jews into ovens, Israeli police may be cruel and insensitive but to compare them to Nazis is plain ridiculous
Geula and Git Meshiga, get over it. It is legitimate, both in English and in Hebrew, to call ANY bully or dictator a nazi. I don’t care whether you like it or not, that is the language. It doesn’t care about your feelings. You don’t get to dictate to anyone else how they will use words.
All those saying “how can you compare to nazis”, listen, i’m not into calling them nazis, but you gotta stop the “how can you compare” garbage.
What they mean is that the MOTIVATION for these cops’ actions are ‘nazi’. The same way that nazis thought jews were scum these cops think chareidim are scum. Thats what is meant by calling them nazi. And unfortunately, there is merit in that accusation.
For those who say that you must judge them favorably and not speak lashon hara about them, you should probably review those laws before you speak.
Git Meshige:
No, it’s not at all ridiculous to compare the Zionist police to Nazis.
As demonstrated in this incident and countless others, both groups wake up in the morning with the intent to hurt Jews, though the Nazis did take that to a greater extreme than the Zionists.
Actually, the Zionists, as “fellow” Jews, are arguably worse than Nazis, even if their (current) actions aren’t as bad as Nazi mass murder.
Of course, all of this ignores what the Zionists did and didn’t do during WW II.
The Zionists also have the additional “maaleh” of committing identity theft against Hashem and the Jewish people and shmading generations of Jews worldwide, unlike the Nazis.
So when these sub-animal Zionists apply their unique cruelty against little kids, whom they are supposed to be protecting, the comparison seems quite apt.
Calling them nazis will only make them more anti chareidi, they are wrong but you can’t call them out in this way. Only talking respectfully will ever get you anywhere.
whats really the truth does isreal hate chareidem or not who are thay? who is isreal? good for religious jews or not?
RuL , whatever. They are Nazis. They don’t care what anybody calls them. They don’t care about anything but dishing out abuse.