Haredi riots

Israel has seen several haredi (ultra-orthodox) riots recently. The biggest in Jerusalem relates to a case in nearby Emmanuel, where a group of haredim, the Slonim Hassidim, have been separating their daughters from the Sephardi and other Jews attending the local school. The school is proivate but is supported by State funds. The reason they say they do this is that the other girls are not sufficiently observant of religious rules and they are afraid that they will influence their own daughters. Others see this as a clear case of discrimination, becuse they also ahve separate entrancews and different school unifomrs, etc. The case was appealed to the Israeli upreme Court and the Judges ruled that indeed it is a case of illegal discrimination, and the school must be integrated. Since the haredim regard all their activities as mandated by God, they of course refuse to change the arrangements. So a group of 43 parents have been ordered to go to jail for disobeying the Court's ruling. They even rejected a compromise that would have closed the school or reclassified it as a camp, since there are only 2 weeks of school left before the summer holiday. They presented themselves at the Police HQ in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon, and were accompanied by a huge crowd of ca. 50,000. From there the parents will be sent to prison. There was also a demonstration of ca. 20,000 in B'nei Barak. The haredim ask their rabbis for guidance, and if they tell them to demonstrate, they all go to demonstrate (no TV or other distractions).

This is the first time a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews may be jailed in Israel for refusing to obey the law, which they regard as secular and illegal. This clash between the ultra-religious and the secular authorities has been a long time coming. Lines are being drawn and the ultra-orthodox are lining up on the side of the parents. The demonstrations against the Supreme Court's decision in Jerusalem and B'nei Barak have been huge. This whole situation might escalate.

Meanwhile another haredi riot is taking place in Jaffa, due to the excavations for a new building complex that has supposedly unearthed ancient Jewish graves. Whenever excavations take place in Israel there is a high probability that they will find something of archeological interest, and if there are Jewish graves, according to strict Jewish law they are not supposed to be disturbed. But, a more liberal interpretation allows the graves to be removed and reinterred elsewhere. A similar thing happened recently at the Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon, where a new reinforced emergency operating theater is to be built due to the rockets being fired from Gaza. The Minister of Health Jakob Litzman, who is himself ultra-Orthodox, at first ordered the building to be moved elsewhere so as not to disturb the graves, but then this was rescinded. The haredim rioted there too, but the Government decided, under public pressure, not to give in to them. There were also riots in Jerusloaem over the opening of a parking lot during Shabbat. The riots in Jaffa are the latest in a series of such riots that erupt every time that excavations reveal graves. The haredim do not recognize the authority of the State legal system, but rather they answer to a higher authority.