Israel’s Attorney General’s office declared the disgraceful comments of Deputy Mayor of Haifa, Lazer Kaplan to not be considered incitement against the Charedi community. Even the leadership of Yisrael Beiteinu, the party who Lazar is a part of in the city council, decried the comments that were made on Kaplan’s profile on a Russian language social media page a few months ago. The comments surfaced to the general public last month.

Kaplan wrote on his wall: “90 percent of secular people serve in the army, while the religious and ultra-orthodox gobble, drink and rape minors under the auspices of God.”

The comments were originally publicized by Yishai Friedman, a reporter for Makor Rishon. According to the report, Kaplan finished off his remarks by stating that Yisrael Beiteinu will not allow these religious zealots to gain power.

Shai Glick, Director of the organization B’tzalmo, an organization working to protect the human rights of all individuals in Israel under a Jewish framework, approached the Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and asked him to open an inquiry as to whether or not Kaplan’s comments constitute incitement and slander against the Charedi and religious public.

On Wednesday, Glick received the reply that there are no grounds to open a criminal investigation in the matter. As part of the explanation, the Attorney General’s office stated that even if the comments were slander or inciting, the religious and Charedi populations are not defined by the color of their skin, or as belonging to a specific race or nationality or ethnicity. Hence, the comments cannot be punishable in court.

Towards the end of the letter from the Attorney General’s office, it said: “Submit your request directly to the police. By submitting it to the AG’s office it creates numerous additional stations, whereas a direct request to the police would be dealt with faster.”

Yisrael Beiteinu responded to the comments publicly and denounced them calling them disgraceful and repugnant. “Mr. Kaplan’s response was published in response to a post calling on voters to go back to Russia and was written by him without the knowledge or instruction of the party.  Although out of context, they are disgusting. Our response was given to Mr. Kaplan accordingly.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)