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| Female soldier - (Illustration by Arutz Sheva) |
A female IDF soldier was attacked with curses and stones in the Yehuda Hanasi neighborhood in Beit Shemesh.
In a conversation with Kan News, the soldier recounted the moments of horror in the incident that happened on Wednesday. "I was standing at the station, before the bus arrived there were some haredim who cursed and threatened me. When the bus arrived they threatened the driver that they would burn his bus if he took me on," she said.
The soldier, who stopped to change bus lines on her way to her base, told journalist Carmela Menashe how the incident soon developed into a violent riot, when a mob chased her, cursed her and threw things at her: "I moved away and started walking, and they chased me. Suddenly, hundreds of children, boys and adults started coming out of the houses, shouting at me 'shiksa' and throwing stones and cans at me. I felt surrounded and helpless."
I am sorry to say that horror stories like this have happened so many times, that they are almost not newsworthy. There have been countless incidences of violence against women in places where extremist Charedim populate certain neighborhoods. It is almost to be expected at regular intervals.
As I have indicated many times, to blame this on a group of Chaedi hooligans with a lot of time on their hands is a copout. While it may be technically true, there is only one kind of hooligan that would attack a female soldier who was simply getting on a bus to get to her army base. Charedi hooligans.
These are not drug fueled street gangs. They are not gang bangers out to kill a traitor or police snitch. They are not out to kill rivals who want to take over theor turf. They are not drive by shootings at rival gang members.
These are are people who think they are doing it for God! They think they are committing a ‘Kiddush HaShem acting like the zealots of old in the bible. ‘they have ‘speared’ the sinner just as Pinchos of the bible did.
Where do you suppose they get those ideas? Never mind. I'll tell you. They get it from a Hashkafa that allows for no tolerance. A Hashkafa of extreme modesty that is considered by them to be the norm. To be defended by violence when necessary.
They are strengthened by the tepid condemnations of their rabbinic leaders. Knowing that all that ‘condemnation’ is just for show. They believe their zealotry is in reality quite appreciated by their neighbors and their religious leaders. They suffer no consequences for their actions. There is no ‘teeth’ to any of the condemnations. Which are tepid and often combined with apologetics like ‘their hearts are in the right place.
This is why they keep doing it.
So yes. I blame the leadership’s doctrinaire approach to the Pritzus - immorality of the secular (and even Dati Leumi) world. To become a female soldier is unconscionable in that world. And they are not going to take it sitting down when they encounter it. At least not by their Kanoim.
Now it’s true that becoming a female soldier is against the Hashkafa of mainstream Charedim as well. But mainstream Charedim will not attack a female soldier. They understand that this is the way if the land and there is nothing they can do about the secular world. And in any case they have their hands full teaching those values to their own.
I also believe that for the most part, mainstream Charedim are as abhorred by these kinds of attacks as I am. But this is not the case with extremist communities. I believe that if they really wanted this kind of thing to end, it would. The idea that they can’t control their ‘hooligans’ is pure nonsense. They have their ways of getting obedience.
I started out by saying, not all Charedim are like that. I meant that to apply even Charedim that live in those extremist communities. If there is a sliver lining in this story, it is the following:
At one point she met three girls and begged them to help her escape: "I asked three girls I saw there to help me and they told me we'll hide you." The girls led her to their home where they hid her when the crowd was closing in on the house and trying to break the lock of the apartment. The soldier called the police and after a while the police arrived in an undercover car, and not in a police car, for fear of another flare-up and the fear of the family that was guarding her that they might be thought of as collaborators
The soldier was dressed in a skirt given to her by the girls of the house and taken out of the place…
There are some truly decent people in the world that are willing to lend a helping hand even to people with whom they have major religious differences. That is what those 3 girls did.
This gives me hope that aside form the tacit approval so many of them seem to have, there may very well be a sizable portion of them that are abhorred by such behavior. I have no clue what proportion of that community is like that. But I sure hope it’s more than those three girls. If it is, I would suggest they try and organize counter protests to show just how much they abhor the people who perpetrated this travesty.
That these protests continue and grow into a groundswell of support joined by many mainstream Charedim. That it continue on a regular basis until leaders won’t be able to ignore it anymore. And then once and for all put an end to these kinds of attacks so that they never ever happen again.
I doubt that this will happen. But I can dream can’t I?
