Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Haredi children in Holocaust camp inmate uniforms (Olivier Pitoussi)

Now I know the Israel’s Haredi community has truly lost its mind.  In Beit Shemesh, they began by spitting on an Orthodox 8-year-old Israeli-American girl making her way to school, because she was dressed “immodestly.”  When the rest of Israel rose in arms at the outrage of this act, the Haredim responded by protesting, trashing parts of the town and lighting fires.  Their idea is that it’s no one else’s friggin’ business what they do in their communities, so butt out bud.

Tonight, they protested in Jerusalem and as part of the festivities they dressed their children in stripped, Holocaust camp inmate uniforms replete with Jewish stars.  The point being…what…what point can there be in this?  That the rest of Israel is murdering them simply because they’re Jews?

The cheap blackmail of this trickery is astonishing.  And despite what anyone may tell you in Israel, it works.  No one crosses these people.  They own the place.  The authorities and politicians cater to their every whim.  In the Territories, the Haredi settlements and yeshivot produce some of the most virulent, violent perpetrators of murder and violence.  These people generally don’t even recognize the secular state as their own.  They vastly prefer the creation of a “Torah-true” theocratic state.  And they’re not above violent rebellion against the authority of the current state.  That’s what price tag violence is all about.

If I’m not mistaken, the Taliban Jews in Israel, who force their women to dress in head to toe chador-like clothing are Haredi.  These are sects which like women only as baby-producing machines.  If you’re not one of their women, you might as well be dirt under their feet.  It’s the Haredi who insist that their public transportation be gender segregated.  They’ll spit on you or scream at you when you dare not to move to the back of the bus.

The next time you hear an Islamophobe or hasbarist railing about the oppression of women in Islamist societies, remind them that Israel has its own Taliban.  And don’t be fooled by anyone who says they are an extreme minority.  This community is by far the fastest growing in all Israel.  Birth-rates are through the roof.  It’s also by far the poorest, least well-educated, and most isolated from the outside world.  This, I’m sorry to say, stands to be the future of Israel if things don’t change in the coming years.

To give you an idea of their politics, Rabbi Yeshayahu Rotter, who I profiled here, is a proud Haredi Jew.

I should add that not every Haredi Jew can be characterized as I have those above.  No doubt, there are some who are principled, law-abiding, and tolerant.  But they are certainly overwhelmed by the nutcases who parade their children in such shameful, despicable costumes extorting Israeli acceptance of their aberrant behavior.

Have they no shame?  At long last, have they no shame?  To defile the memory of the Holocaust in this way.  It makes one want to wretch.