Haredi-secular conflict in Israel in winter of 2011-2012

In December 2011, several separate incidents took place in rapid succession, creating a large public discussion about the position of Haredi (strictly Orthodox Jews) in Israeli society, and leading to widespread incitement in both directions - seculars about Haredim, and Haredim about seculars.
Background
The Haredi population makes up around 10% of Israel's population (or 14% of the Jewish population), but a rapid growth rate has seen Haredi communities settling and expanding in many cities across the country and led to increasing tension between the Haredim and non-Haredi Jews in many of these places, and in the country in general. Issues such as a low level of participation in the army, sex segregation, lack of sufficient secular education in Haredi schools, and a high level of dependence on social welfare are some of the key issues which dominate the discourse of the position of Haredim in Israeli society. Haaretz journalist Yossi Sarid, describing the inferior status of women in Orthodox Judaism, writes that it regards women as "filthy little things"; Ynet journalist Raanan Shaked, saying that far-right religious supporters are ignoring the democratic system and taking over Israeli society, called for women to resist Haredi mores, for example by riding segregated buses in a bikini or stating a refusal to join the army since IDF rabbis advocate discrimination against women soldiers. Yair Ettinger of Haaretz described the current state of ultra-Orthodox extremism as a reaction against Orthodox reformists, and also suggested that the timing of this flare-up in extremism had to do with the political race in which Prime Minister Netanyahu knew that he would have to keep ultra-Orthodox support in order to maintain his coalition, and with the upcoming court case regarding segregated buses.
Initial incidents
Bus incidents
* A secular woman and, separately, a Haredi woman refused to move to the back of the bus on Egged bus line 451 from Ashdod to Jerusalem, which is seen by its passengers as being a 'Mehadrin' (segregated) line, where women commonly sit in the back.
* A 44-year old Haredi man allegedly verbally assaulted a female IDF soldier on city bus line 49A, another 'Mehadrin' bus line, in Jerusalem's Ramat Eshkol neighborhood when she refused to move to the back of the bus. The man was arrested and charged with sexual harassment for allegedly having referring to the soldier as a "slut" before being released on bail, and is, as of 1 January 2012, awaiting trial.
Beit Shemesh incidents
Conflicts between more radical Haredim on one side and more moderate Haredim, Religious Zionists and secular Jews on the other side had been ongoing for several years in Beit Shemesh, occasionally leading to isolated incidents of violence and demonstrations from both sides. Until December 2011, however, the wider Israeli public had not heard much about the issue, until the following incidents captured the attention of the national media.
* Protests by extremist zealots affiliated with the Sikrikim movement and the most extreme wing of Neturei Karta against the 'Orot Banot' girls elementary school in Beit Shemesh, located on the border of a particularly extremist Haredi neighorhood, escalated; at one point, one of the zealots allegedly spat on a 7-year old girl, Na'ama Margolis. This alleged incident was reported by Channel 2 television news and quickly became a major news topic, attracting the attention of the entire Israeli political spectrum and leading to widespread condemnation.
* Shortly after the incident above, a journalist in Beit Shemesh photographed a sign attached to a lamppost on the sidewalk in front of a synagogue nearby, requesting women to walk by without stopping or cross the street. A major public outcry from the secular public led to the Beit Shemesh mayor and police deciding to immediately remove the sign, the removal of which led to clashes with local residents opposing the removal of the sign.
An extremist Haredi man allegedly attacked a woman who was, in his opinion, not dressed modestly enough. This led to arrests, followed by a riot a couple of days later.
Merger into one debate
In the course of the public and political debate that followed, the separate incidents merged into a single major debate with Haredim on one side and the secular world on the other side.
On 27 December 2011, a rally was held in Beit Shemesh to protest against religious extremism and the "exclusion of women".
Female Knesset member Tzipi Hotovely boarded Egged bus 418, also a 'Mehadrin' bus line, in protest of the recent incidents. This incident marks the blurring of the three separate conflicts: the segregated buses - the December 2011 incidents on which did not take place in Beit Shemesh -, the school, and the sign (the latter two are described below). She was accompanied by television and other media crews, and while she was not insulted during the ride, she claimed to have been verbally assaulted by Haredi men after getting off the bus with the media crews and then getting back on without them, again sitting up front.
Anti-Haredi incitement
Incitement against Haredim has been a recurring issue in Israel. In November 2011, Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin mentioned that Haredim face the same demonization, in which “harmful marginal groups” are portrayed as the norm."
Israel Harel of Haaretz wrote that "one can safely assume that the goal of most of the critics, including the religious ones, is Haredi-bashing, pure and simple." Gideon Levi suggested Haredim were targeted "beyond all proportion" because they are "a convenient and easy punching bag", and called on non-Haredim to accept Haredim as being different but equal.
During the weeks following the initial incidents, numerous occasions of verbal and physical threats and actual assaults against Haredim and non-Haredi Orthodox Jews were reported throughout Israel. Haredi news website "Kikar HaShabat" opened a special email 'hotline' to report such incidents, and quickly gathered a list of complaints, claiming incidents ranging from a secular woman grabbing a 61-year old Haredi women by the throat in Rehovot to death threats, a secular Israeli loudly calling for the murder of all Haredi Jews on a city bus in Jerusalem, and a Haredi girl being spat on by a secular man in Jerusalem's Clal Building.
United Torah Judaism Member of Knesset Yisrael Eichler said there was a delegitimization campaign against Haredim, and claimed that “despite the fact that every single haredi person interviewed and questioned on this matter has condemned these actions and denounced them, the media continues to take these extremely rare incidents, blow them out of all proportion and use them to show that this characterizes the haredi community.” He referred to the “coordinated campaign of the media and secular lobbying groups” intended, according to him, to portray the entire Haredi community as violence-prone extremists.
On 31 December 2011, motivated by the increasing secular hatred against Haredim, over a thousand Haredi men assembled in Jerusalem’s Kikar Hashabbat (Sabbath Square) in a protest organized by the Edah HaChareidis, protesting "the exclusion of Haredim" - using the exact same word the secular media used for the "exclusion of women" by some Haredim. Some protesters wore Holocaust-style yellow badges as they felt persecuted as Jews by the Israeli state. After this increasingly intense confrontation between Haredi and secular Israelis, politicians of various parties expressed outrage over protesters' use of Holocaust symbolism during a legimitate protest, and the incident was widely reported in the international media. Following widespread criticism, an unnamed official of the Edah HaChareidis defended the usage of Holocaust symbols, saying they had "no regret" and explaining that “during the Shoah they tried to eliminate us physically and now the Zionists and the media are trying to eliminate us spiritually. This is why we wanted to express the real pain that we are experiencing.”
Links
* Edah HaChareidis
* Neturei Karta
* Sikrikim
* Haredim and Zionism

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