(Click HERE for 100 photos) Thursday did not bring a hiatus in protests in Yerushalayim. Thousands gathered in the Kikar Shabbos area and the scene was a repeat of earlier nights this week, with vandals setting public property ablaze, further destroying that which remains of the neighborhood as the residents struggle to prepare for shabbos amidst the mayhem.
Hundreds of protestors took up position on Shivtei Yisrael Street near Route 1, met with by formidable police presence working to keep the vehicular route open. Arrests were made including the Eida Chareidit’s Rav Yitzchak Shlomo Blau. Also detained by police were Avraham Breuer, son-in-law of Badatz official Rav Yurvitz, a grandson of the Vishnitz Rebbe Monsey, and a son-in-law of the Kretchniff Rebbe Shlita Jerusalem.
Stormy protests were also reported in Bet Shemesh and other chareidi areas around the country. In Yerushalayim, the violence appears to have escalated. In Bet Shemesh, the approximately 100 protestors closed Nahar HaYarden Street until police came and reopened the route. It appeared there were more rock-throwing attacks and destruction to public property. Eida official are signaling this protests will continue until the ‘Munchausen mom’ is released. Community leaders insist the entire matter is a blood libel against the chareidi community while police insist they have ample video footage and other evidence to support their case that the mother is indeed ill, and inflicted the damage to her son. At Hadassah, doctors and administrators reject all allegations that they are “cooperating with police” to permit them to build their case against the chareidi community.
Police used a water cannon and mounted forces moved in as well in an effort to maintain order. In Geula, cops were outfitted with riot gear, seeking to protect themselves against the hail of rocks thrown from every direction.
On Jerusalem’s Moshe Zachs Street, fireworks were hurled at police. On Moshe Caro Street, a vat of oil was poured onto the street. One mounted unit slid on the oil, but the policeman and his horse emerged uninjured.
At least 10 policemen were injured and dozens were arrested and detained for questioning. The President’s Residence has released a message that President Shimon Peres has ordered his staff to contact the involved parties, the chareidi leaders, police and Jerusalem City Hall, beginning to take steps to curb the violence before the situation escalates to catastrophe chas v’sholom.
The mother will be brought before a remand hearing on Friday morning, at 9:00am. The state will ask that she remain behind bars, maintaining her release will permit the chareidi community to get her out of the country, as well as facilitating efforts to sabotage the ongoing police investigation. The state is indicating it is willing to agree to her release under house arrest conditions outside of Yerushalayim, providing she agrees to a psychiatric exam prior to her release. So far, mom is unwilling to consent to a psychiatric exam.
Moshe Friedman, who is a member of the Munchausen mother’s family has released a message calling for calm and an end to the violence. “I repeat, in the name of the rabbonim and the family, please, stop, the violence is counter-productive and hurts our case. It diverts the public’s attention”. Friedman calls for calm law-abiding protest, tefilla, and tehillim.
In the meantime, Jerusalem Police Chief Franco is bracing for a stormy shabbos, preparing his forces for increased violence. The pashkavilim in Meah Shearim are calling for a shabbos afternoon protest over the opening of the Karta parking lot. Police fear the combination of the two issues may lead to yet more violence. Franco stated the police can deal with anything and additional manpower will be deployed if necessary, but he hopes the situation does not continue to deteriorate.
In one act of vandalism on Thursday morning, a number of chareidi youths were captured on film as they threw trash cans and other objects at a Geula social services office, eventually destroying a security camera. They also hurled rocks at the windows of the office. Police were summoned to extricate the workers from the office, who were unsuccessful in repelling the violent assault with fire extinguishers. As a precaution, teargas has been distributed to social workers employed by the city, fearing the violence may spread to other neighborhoods.
Chief Franco has indicated he feels the rabbonim are not doing enough to openly condemn the violence and call for an end to the destruction and attacks.
On the other side of the coin, the chareidi media continues to report police are treating detainees with brutality, decrying the entire affair, distancing itself from the vandalism and violence and focusing reports on the unjustified accusations against the mother, and the blood libel against the chareidi community.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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29 Responses
unfortunately it seems these images are coming from Teheran and mot Jerusalem. i feel sorry fort hose who don”t support the meshgaim , for having to suffer for these people. what these people fail to understand is that they are not the only in this world and the chilul hashem name they are causing is horrible. and lets not forget how the non religious media to categorize them as ultra orthodox men which puts me and you in the same category as these crazies. i think the punishment for the protestors is that themselves should have to go with there own brooms and mops and clean up the mess they have created and come up with the funds to repair all the physical damage which they have caused.
lastly do they realize the amount of bittul zman they are causing to others by having all bus routes rerouted, what are these people thinking???
Hashem is surely crying over this…what can we do to console Him? We can fight this with the opposite…simple acts of kindness to every Jew and Gentile that we come across. Besides showing the general population, we need to show Hashem that most of us have not forgotten that we are the Chosen Nation and are expected to act with dignity and mentschlichkeit to all beings. LET’S START RIGHT NOW…KINDNESS IS CONTAGIOUS- PASS IT AROUND!
I see most people have missed what’s at the core of these riots. Nir Barkat approached Rabbonim in Yerushalaim with a ruse that the police had informed him that we need to open a parking lot and that it was a matter of pikuach nefesh. The Rabbonim initialy agreed until they found out that the police had said nothing of the sort.
The mayor and his cohorts have lost all credibility with the community and until he resigns I fear that any excuse to riot will be taken advantage of.
For those of you jumping to all sorts of conclusions – please stop until you get your facts straight – you’re causing an even greater chilul hashem then you suspect might be going on
I’m here in Ma’alot Dafna. While I don’t think that shomer Torah and mitzvos folks should destroy property … one has to realize that the police action here is completely out of line. No American police force could treat anyone this way. There is nowhere the violence of Watts riots … or anything we would define as a “riot” in America. There are protests and some fires (in a very stone-based environment … ultimately smelly, but no threat to anyone). There has been no attacking of private people or private property by the charedim. At every turn the mayor and police have overstated the “danger” and at every opportunity the police have over-reacted. This is a concerted effort to paint a segment of yiddin as undesirable. I personally think the protests need much better organization and much better training and strategy for “non-violence”. But, the police are making this MUCH bigger.
You don’t arrest a woman who may have a mental illness … you take her for treatment. You don’t throw her in jail for DAYS. There is an anti-Eida campaign here.
Klal Yisrael needs to daven for this madness to stop.
First of all, I don’t think these chevra care how they are portrayed in tje media. There is avery deep rooted issues going on here. The eida chevra don’t look at this as an isolated incident. It seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. They are making comparisons to yaldey teiman and seem to be fighting a war that is a continuation of 60 years of opression. I am actually very surprised by this web site’s slanted reporting refusing to give any credence to the family’s side (even soumd a little ridiculing) while the police and hospital’s side is taken for granted Eida official are signaling this protests will continue until the ‘Munchausen mom’ is released. I am horrified to see the mother referred ti as such on a (what I thought was ) chareydi web site. I’m not condoning the violence but the other issues are issues by themselves. Did this spira guy just get off the boat. Maybe he should learn a little history of yerushalayim and medinas yisroel as told by the chareidy side
The mother probaly refuses the evaluation (at the order of her lawyer) bacause at this point there is no feeling that there will be an inbiased evaluation. Therefore why make matters worse legally. Pull back and develop a solid defense. You don’t got to be a harvard law school graduate to figure that out. Just gotta be able to step back from your vile hatred from col davar shebikedusha
The police in Israel [and the elitist social welfare class], are notorious for starting investigations on ANYONE to bluster their elitist position.
This policy does not pertain to chareidim in paticular,just ask the multitudes of (right wing) ministers and/or politicians who suddenly found themselves under “investigation” on some trumped up charge or an other.
Let us not fool ourselves, there is Lo Aleinu a distinct possibility of this kind of abuse in our community,but The mere fact that these communist
thugs are suggesting the abuse,indicates this mothers probable innocents.
sammygol, these youths and riff-raff may be out of control, but the parents’ legal moves are not. Would you, in such a case, trust the psychiatric services to give a fair analysis? Their irrational behavior does not condone yours.
from the amount of credence and article room you give to the police chiefs view of events, compared to the pathetic 2 and a half line view of the other side which is barely shtupped in to the end of the article, shows that you are obviously a very biased view on this event. this is also very obvious from your continuing to refer to the mother as “munchausen mom,” which at this point is nothing more then an allegation surmised by charedi hating police and their cohorts. it would serve you well to make an attempt to do a tiny bit of unbiased reporting.
Moderators Response: How about this: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=37012 Not good enough for you?
To all those American “Harry Ballebattem” who don’t fully understand the way things work in Eretz Yisroel:
Please dont even bother to comment if you have nothing positive to say!!
Good Shabbos to all of Klal Yisroel
Say Tehillim for the mother and her son:
יענטע בת יוכבד
חיים יהודה לייב בו יענטע
Yenta bas Yocheved
Chaim Yehudah Leib ben Yocheved
Until this woman is released they should protest by making lots of noise and beating drums all night in front of the mayor’s home.
#1 – ditto, ditto, ditto … could not have said it better myself!
Thank G.d that they had those unmarked cops as well. They were definitely needed amoungst the violent crowd.
May G.d give people seichal, amen!
Don’t bother posting names for Tehillim, just let all the negativity flow through your pages like waste through a gutter.
Moderators Response: OK, Yossi Friedman. By the way, there is a Tehillim section http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/tehillim.php
Look at the Kiddush Hashem this is! Peolpe following their daas torah sticking out their necks to free a fellow jew! And all you groise talmidei chachamim that know right from wrong I’m sure you all know hilchos lashon hara backwards and forwards that you can talk about Anshei Yerushalayim like that! and BTW anybody that doesn’t live in yerushalayim cannot really talk about this for you do not know how politics work in this country! And of course when you distort the facts it’ll sound like the goyim, but YWN knows good and well the real story that the violent one are minorities and no store-looting etc…… Let’s not forget it’s the three weeks and we need to work on bein adam la’chaveiro!
good shabbos to all!
P.S. davening always helps
Its a shame looks like some yeshiva buchrim getting arressted. This is what they go for? to have some fun?/ i hope their PARENTS are proud of thir pics on the internet ( maybe it will help their shidduchim)!!
ohr lagoyim. right.
To smmygol.
STOP THE BASHING! Enough!! These R ur brothers,you both have the same father. FEEL 4 them,they need Direction.
When you have a minute open a sefeer Shoftim & learn y GIDDON became Our leader.
To Yechiel Spiro , It seems like you don’t know the meaning of Pashkevil , you write that ” The pashkavilim in Meah Shearim are calling for a shabbos afternoon protest ” Lmaan Kedushas Shabbos. These posters are not Pashkevilim . A Pashkevil is a poster that has Loshon Hora on another fellow yid .
The police do what has to be done
“what are these people thinking???” They aren’t. If they had been, they would either be learning or working. With too little brains for the Torah, and zero skills to make a living, they riot when bored, and come to the USA to collect when they think we are bored.
Comment by sammygol — July 17, 2009 @ 2:08 am
Sammygrol
You are the embodiement of Sinas Chinum of the worst sort.
sammygol-
Ugh. No other word for your comment.
Bar26 (16),
Beating drums and making noise is one thing. Destructing property and causing injuries is insane, ridiculous, and just plain old stupid. And I have been to Hafganos in Yershualayim, and I have been smacked by police sticks (not as a participant). I know how it “works”. And it is disgusting. There are ways to do things – and this is not the way.
Duvd’l
It’s very sad to see what is taking place in our holy city.
Is it really that bad? Are the Charedim suffering so terribly by hands of the Medina? Ok, so maybe it’s not as good as living in Lakewood or Monsey or even in NYC, but is it really that bad?
So they are opening a parking lot in Yerushalayim on Shabbos. Is one person going to stop keeping Shabbos because they now have a parking lot open on Shabbos? A better question follows. Will one person start keeping Shabbos because of the demonstrations. I submit to you that this will do nothing for Shabbos. It pains me that there people out there who believe that this is a Mitzvoh.
I think it’s time that we begin making the Eidoh accountable for their actions here. They have a very elaborate Hashgacha that many of us rely on. It’s time that we begin questioning our patronage. This will send a message. That not everyone supports this extremist behavior with the incitement of the underclass against organized civilian institutions.
I feel that it is of utmost importance to protest the posts of “sammygol”, who it is difficult to believe is still a currently practicing shomer shabbos. The comments s/he makes is aside from false, utterly disgusting.
It is truly unbelieveable how some will side with those against our mesorah above their own brothers.
Darchei Noam,
Like most of us, you would be wise to simply ignore them. Whether we do or don’t “agree” with the protests, the poster you mentioned has a virulently negative attitude toward chareidim, and your responses to him are unnecessary.
A pesky fly, to be sure, but not worthy of your passions.
#32: I might agree with you, but perhaps it is beneficial to protest nevertheless? A) For oneself, to ingrain a defense of Torah Jewry. B) Lest others fall prey to the catchy word smiths working against Yiddishkeit.