Na’ama’s tears spark outrage
AUSTRALIAN Jewish leaders have roundly condemned members of Israel’s Charedi community, who last week dressed young children in yellow stars and striped clothing to evoke the Holocaust as part of a protest against exclusion.
AUSTRALIAN Jewish leaders have roundly condemned members of Israel’s Charedi community, who last week dressed young children in yellow stars and striped clothing to evoke the Holocaust as part of a protest against exclusion.
The demonstration in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighourhood of Meah Shearim followed an incident in which a group of Charedi men spat on and shoved an eight-year-old girl, Na’ama Margolis, for dressing immodestly.
Na’ama, who was also apparently called a “prostitute” by the men, is now reportedly too scared to walk to school, with the incident drawing the indignation of Israelis, the Jewish diaspora and the world.
Rabbi Chaim Ingram, of the New South Wales Rabbinic Council, labelled the men “thugs”, but stressed they were not representative of the wider Charedi community.
“The contemptible and despicable actions of a small but vocal band of thugs in Charedi garb who disgrace the streets of a section of Beit Shemesh must be condemned by Jews of all persuasions, religious and secular alike,” Rabbi Ingram said.
“However it behoves all representative sectors of Israeli society to join together and work to curb, once and for all, the actions of a small minority of extremists both on the Right and the Left who act against the interests of the majority in the Jewish State.”
Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel said the Shoah symbolism was a “vile sight” and Rabbi Yaakov Glasman, president of the Rabbinic Council of Victoria, said comparisons between the plight of European Jews during World War II and the Charedi community were spurious.
“Any attempt to draw comparisons to the suffering of Jews during the Holocaust trivialises the genuine persecution, torture and unspeakable atrocities perpetrated against millions of Jews and is deeply offensive to Holocaust survivors,” Rabbi Glasman said.
The Union For Progressive Judaism executive director Steve Denenberg wrote to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on behalf of the organisation’s Australian congregations calling for action against extremism.
“We hope that you and your government will be strengthened in acting against the extremists by knowing that Jews around the world join in condemning their behaviour and their efforts to take Israel along the path of exclusion and discrimination,” Denenberg wrote.
“It is our hope that you will lead the way in not only condemning these acts, but by taking real action to ensure that Israel becomes the inclusive and democratic state described in the Declaration of Independence and longed for by Jews around the world, including within the State itself.”
There has been upbraiding from both sides of the Knesset with Netanyahu, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Shas Interior Minister Eli Yishai among MKs speaking out against the abuse and subsequent protests. Israeli police chief Nisso Shaham also criticised the protests.
ADAM KAMIEN
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