I'm teaching a course about Jerusalem this semester (history, politics, religion, and architecture from biblical times to the present). From time to time I'll be blogging about what's going on in Jerusalem today - and the story of the day seems to be the continued riots over the Karta parking lot opening on the Sabbath. Haredi and secular people clashed, as well as the police and the Haredim.
This photo shows a policeman confronting a group of Haredi men. It's not clear to me where they are.
The Haredim were shouting "Shabbes" and "Nazis" at the policemen trying to keep them away from the parking lot.
This took place at Kikar Safra, the complex of municipality buildings on Jaffa Street. Please make a point of teaching your students that what you and most of the press called "Haredim" are not considered as anything but fringe elements of chassidic society by Haredim themselves, and that the rest of us are quiet, law abiding citizens.
ReplyDeleteWho are the people who are protesting, then? Who is this "fringe elements of chassidic society"? I would find your protest more credible if I had heard any loud and clear denunciation of these violent demonstrations by Haredi leaders when I was in Israel over the summer.
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