Jerusalem – Holocaust survivors are outraged over a Jerusalem demonstration in which ultra-Orthodox Jews wore Star of David patches and uniforms similar to those the Nazis forced Jews to wear during World War II.
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Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered Saturday night to protest what they say is a nationwide campaign directed against their lifestyle.
The practices, which call for strict separation of the sexes, are rejected by mainstream Israelis as religious coercion.
At the protest, one child’s hands were raised in surrender — mimicking an iconic photo of a terrified Jewish boy in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial called the use of Nazi imagery “disgraceful,” and several other survivors’ groups and politicians condemned the acts.
“There’s no room for such shameful behavior,” said Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. “It hurts Holocaust survivors and disrespects the memory of the Holocaust.” He called on haredi leaders to act against those who abused the memory of six million Jewish victims in the Nazis.
Minister Yossi Peled, a Holocaust survivor, could not believe his eyes when he saw the pictures from the ultra-Orthodox protest in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood on Saturday night.
“I admit that some things are inconceivable, like taking the horrifying picture of the little boy facing the Nazis with his hands up. Regardless of whether the struggle is justified or not, this points to something insane, irrational, immoral,” he told Ynet on Sunday morning.
“Any word you say will be inappropriate. I may be naïve: I never believed, no matter which conflict we’re talking about, that we would use symbols of the Jewish people’s tragedy for an internal battle. It was our battle against an external threat. It’s inconceivable. The blood froze in my veins.”
Prof. Shevach Weiss, a former Knesset speaker and a Holocaust survivor as well, defined the pictures from Saturday’s protest as shocking.
“Any type of comparison between events related to the Israeli split and the Holocaust are a crazy illusion. What we are seeing here is people dancing on the blood of Holocaust survivors,” he told Ynet.
According to Weiss, “Those who choose to go there must be people with pathological problems, something that is not within my profession but complete madness requiring a medical diagnosis.”
What more can we do? Write another post condemning these maniacs? And then another, and another? The simply don’t care! How on earth do we get out of this mess?
Not only Holocaust survivors are enraged, so is every decent human living in Israel. Do the Haredim need to be reminded that without the “Hilonim,” we would have no country. It was the Chasidic Rabbis who forbid their young students to go to Palestine when they still had a chance to leave Europe, thus dooming millions to death and the destruction of the once great religious communities. It was the mostly Hilonim who immigrated and worked tirelessly to build the great country we have today. The Haredim, because they sit around all day have an overabundance of time, energy and male hormones. Let them join the army, go to work and confront their rabbis over the cycle of poverty that they are forced to stay in. Those that dressed their children in Holocaust attire are not fit to be parents. We have proved that the religious can build, serve their country and treat the Hilonim as the brothers they are.
a complete disgrace.
they are guilty of the biggest most shameful chillul Hashem in history.
where are the rabbonim condemning this? where are the eidah chareidis condemning this? where are the OU? or any other respected frum rabbonim?
there should be an announcement of a cheirem against whoever was involved.
we all agree it is a disgrace but lets not use any more sinas chinom we all every day daven that Moishiach should come and the Beit Hamikdosh should be rebuild so lets work together on this point and do things the correct way and not just pump and pump!!!
Adon Minister
I guess if you top behaving like nazis they will stop felling like in concentration camp ,
I don’t think any of you really understand what’s going on in the minds of these individuals.
First, these folk either just ended Shabbat or were on their way to a Melaveh Malkah.
They are still dressed for Shabbat.
The live in a culture that has NO entertainment other than a “yi di di” at the Rebbe’s tisch.
No television (chas v’shalom)
No movies (evil)
No radio (Satan)
No newspapers
No Chareidi magazines
No cell phones that can access the internet
And of course, many of them don’t listen to even Chareidi music.
So their only entertainment is… demonstrations.
It’s like taking their kids to the movies (evil).
They’ve probably never heard what’s going on in Beit Shemesh.
They never heard of someone insulting a soldier.
They don’t know about spitting on a little girl.
They are sheep.
They do what they are told.
And now, they are watching entertainment.
You think all these people know what’s going on here?
They only know the chilonim are out to get us. They want to wipe us out like Hitler did. And the Zionists are the worst of the bunch.
And with their birthrate folks – get used to it.
Dare I say your grandchildren will be amongst them unless you act now.
Now everyone is out there hole condemning, while everyone agrees it was a shameful act, where were all of you condemning the חילונים when they provoke against the חרידים. Don’t you see a double standard? The חרידים are only reacting (with poor judgment).
I dont know if you have any idea what the concentration camps were. Because if it was anything like Meah shearim then the antisemites and NK are right – there was no holocaust.
What poppycock. I have a hard time believing that there is any provocation against chareidim anymore. Now go find a sweet little girl to spit on.
What can we do?!
Well money talks! So let us all here in the US send a clear message to ALL leaders and Rabonim regardless if they are directly involved or not, if they don’t come out and loudly condemn these crazy unTorah’dig actions we will not send them a penny!
i am shocked at some of these comments, the medina did not save us & to blame our rabbonim for yidden dying?
and how easily some frum ppl play into the hands of the reform
I was 17 year old when I wore this uniform in Buchenwald after Ghetto Litzmannstadt and Czenstochau. I saw Jews and non-Jews wearing this uniform being beaten to death and fall over for hunger dead. It is a low as you can reach a madreiga of disrespect, aziz and just plain ignorance. Except this is encouraged by peyes wearing, gartel and black hat wearing “Jews”. Shame on those who encouraged it. My compliments to VIN for posting it although I wish I had not seen it. However , it will push away thousands and thousands who may have become religious and harm honest yiras shomayim. Again be ashamed for encouraging this.
Notice that every single one of these people is either left, secular or both.
where are the rabonim and religious leaders???????????
what a spit in the face of all shoah survivors, hiloni and haredi alike….
All news reports say there were “hundreds” of demonstrators. In the charedi world this is a small fringe of lunatics. Do not tar a whole group with a brush that should be reserved for a few.
This action by a group of charedi demonsrators that surprised the crowds with their extreme uniform is in m opinion way overboard, but, it brings out the reaction to the recent uprising against charedim in EY.
Its fact that they are not being treated fairly or decent, not by the authorities, neither by the dirt media, and nor – in some areas – by the secular neighbors, and this is the reaction, they feel persecuted!
when a charedi allegedly spits on a samll kid (which is very wrong), the media creates a big uproar and hype, for a consecutive week they’re all busy blowing it up against ALL charedim, and when a reporter spits on a charedi 4 YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL! everybody is silent, including those “righteous” commentator here. WWhen a secular woman slaps and spits on a charedi on the street in Bnei Brak, then its ok, when a secular woman spits on a charedi yungerman in Yerushulayim then its ok, no media coverage, no police action, no condemnings, not a wors is said or heard.
When its vice versa, oh no, forget it, “all” charedim are subjected to the worse!
the uniforms and the stars were sewn ahead of time and distributed. the idiots that took it and wore it and passed it to the children are vile. they wouldnt do anything ‘ben adom lamakom’ but they are willing to hurt and insult a fellow Jew who actually wore it and survived and saw this via internet or media, is trully heartless and cruel.
If you look at pictures you will see that half the people at these demonstrations are litvish bochurim/boys Americans learning in Israel..that just love action…
As a Jew educated in a traditional Yeshivah, I’m deeply embarrassed, not only of the extremists but also of anyone who sympathizes with them, or supports them in any way. The fact that over 1000 joined the demonstration in Jerusalem, proves that the problem goes beyond a fringe group. These people pervert and defile the essence of Judaism, their beliefs and actions violate core Torah values and they can’t be allowed to be considered a ‘legitimate’ Jewish movement, even a fringe one, any more then Jews for Jesus are. There are those in the haradi world who prefer to circle the wagons, to feel victimized by the press. There are those who are harassed by the extremists and are afraid to speak out and there are others who become syndical and lost hope. This is how these fanatics take over! We can’t allow that to happen, we can’t allow these people to destroy the traditional Torah community from within. Many Rosh HaYeshivah’s and leaders in the haradi community are afraid to speak out many are literally afraid for their lives, as death threats, physical harassment and property damage are common. We must do everything we can to pressure our leaders to act, we must reassure them of our su
what an outrage! what a tremendous chilul hashem? There is absolutely no justification for such behavior! where is the public condemnation from all the gedolim? Rav Kanievsky? Rav Elyashiv? Belz Rebbe?Chassidishe Rebbe’s?
INTERESTING? NO ONE WAS ENRAGED WHEN THAY DID THE SAME THING AT THE GUSH KATIF PROTESTS. CHABAD HAD BIG SIGNS IN FRONT OF SHARATON NY WHEN SHARON CAME TO VISIT “NAZI TRAITOR” ??
but when gush katif was returned to the arabs it was allowed to wear yellow stars and carry signs nazis traitor?? even in midtown ny when sharon came to visit chabad had signs depicting sharon as hitler
you can’t realy blame these criminaly insane ignorant savages for this obcene spectacle whereby they associate the Israeli government with Nazism,it is not their fault,they have been brainwashed from their childhood, as soon as they started going CHEIDER at the age of 5,they were taught by their rebbes and teachers,that zionism is the biggest catastrophy that has befallen the jewish people since churban bais sheni, and that there is no doubt that the reason Hashem brought on the holocaust on the jewish people where six million were slaughtered,was for the sin of Zionism,and not only that,the Zionists encouraged the nazi’s,and deliberatly sabotaged all the efforts to save some jews during the war,
this obcenity has poisoned the minds of tens of thousands of frum jews in Israel and all over the world,it is not only the crazies of Neturei Karta who believe this,but all of the so called anti-zionists under the umbrella of the EIDAH HACHREIDAH and Satmar,and yes even a large part of the so called Yeshivish world,
We are reaping now what has been sowed for the last 60 yrs.
CHAIM.S
My husband is generally the one who posts . But when I saw the absolute Chellel Hashem being perpetuated by these so called religious people I had to say something. I have rarely been embarrassed by the actions of our people; always reasoning and trying to see the issue from the other person’s perspective. Except for the time that certain individuals felt obligated to show the world that it was important to embrace the Iranian monkey and deny the holocaust; and now this abomination! As a child of holocaust survivors I cannot be silent. How dare these so called religious men and women put on yellow stars and pander to the world showing themselves as lazy, ignorant and hateful animals. Israel is good enough to get government money from and free health care so that they have the time and ability to think up hateful acts and then to carry them out. How low have we sunk and how revolting we must be to Hashem. How dare these creatures use this to get themselves some free publicity. I truly hope for their sakes that they do tesuvah for this act. I do not know how I can ever forgive them. And where r our leaders in all of this to protest? Where?