Signs in Mea She’arim: “No Entry for Men in Uniform.”

Ultra-Orthodox wall ads blatantly express their distaste for soldiers. On Haredi site “Kikar Shabbat,” new ads are dubbed “new low for Mea She’arim.”

08/09/2011 15:42

Tags: Army · Mea Shearim · Haredim · Kikar Shabbat

A haredi and a soldier using the bank services. 30.03.2008. Photo: Daniel Dreyfus, Flash 90

“No entry for men in uniform,” announced hundreds of pasquinades [wall poster in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, usually containing polemic texts] scattered recently throughout the Mea She’arim neighborhood in Jerusalem. These pasquinades are bluntly phrased and, essentially, they say: “no entry to our neighborhoods and synagogues to anyone wearing soiled garments, such as soldiers, officers and commanders in national brothels.” [referring to national institutions, such as the army, as brothels.] The writers of these signs explain that, “their presence signifies disaster in the future and a danger to our descendants.”

In a report on Army Radio, Tal Yehezkiel argues that these pasquinades are not directed at Israel Defense Forces soldiers in general, but rather against Haredi [ultra-Orthodox] men that serve in various army frameworks: Shahar (Haredi service), Haredi Nahal Corps, the Navy and the Computers & Information Corps. The pasquinades were publicized approximately eight months after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Haredi soldiers and commented after the meeting that there was a noticeable change in the attitude of Haredi society towards the draft into the IDF.

Isaad, an ultra-Orthodox soldier, was interviewed on Razi Barkai’s show “What’s the rush?” He said that, “These pasquinades are like a thorn in a beautiful garden. We are talking about a group of people that speaks out against all the rest. You don’t say ‘secular women protested the IDF at checkpoints’ but, rather, you specify from which particular organization they are coming. It is not fair to say that all Haredim publish this type of pasquinades. Several dozen extremists should not demonize an entire community.”

No entry to our neighborhoods and synagogues to anyone wearing soiled garments, such as soldiers, officers and commanders in national brothels

The Haredi web portal “Kikar HaShabbat,” called the pasquinade campaign “a low point in Mea She’arim.” According to the site, the signs are directed at soldiers patrolling the neighborhoods and conducting navigational exercises in the area only. The site also mentions that a neighborhood watch group that calls itself the “Sicarii” [Latin for ‘dagger men’] attacked soldiers walking near the neighborhood last year. Following the attack, the IDF made efforts not to have any navigational training exercises in the area.

One activist in the Mea She’arim neighborhood told “Kikar HaShabbat” that he did not know who wrote the pasquinades, but he added that: “Last year, there were no military exercises, so it was quiet. Recently, groups of soldiers have been patrolling here and ruining our education.”

In an article published last year in Ha’aretz, Hiddush Vice-President Shahar Ilan said that local residents in Mea She’arim attacked patrolling soldiers by throwing stones at them. Police were called to the scene and encountered a similar violent reaction. The attack on soldiers is part of an increasing trend of violence characterizing the neighborhood. “There is hardly a week that there is no stone throwing, burning of garbage cans or road blocks in Mea She’arim,” Ilan wrote. If government officials or civil servants even enter the neighborhood, it is enough of a pretext for demonstrations. Opposition to soldiers entering the neighborhood is part of this trend.

For the article in Hebrew from Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) click here

For the full article in Hebrew on Kikar HaShabbat click here

For Shahar Ilan’s op-ed in Ha’aretz in Hebrew, click here