Barry Goldwater, the Conservative Republican Candidate for President in 1964 defended the John Birch Society (an ultra conservative group Whose views bordered on racism and antisemitism) by saying, ‘Extremism in the defense of liberty is no Vice!’ I’m here to tell you that he was wrong!
Hate has a home in Israel. And it works both ways. Charedim hate secular Jews and secular Jews hate Charedim.
I hate to use the term cycle of violence, but it fits. The latest incident of which is an example of that. The thing is though that it is only a tiny minority that participates in the cycle of violence. On both sides of the Israeli street.
By now, anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to what is going on in Israel has heard about the multitude of Incidents by Charedi extremists against secular Jews. And even against non-Charedi religious Jews.
Just to cite one recent example reported in the Jerusalem Post:
Police officers rescued Beit Shemesh Mayor Aliza Bloch from harm on Tuesday night after haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters besieged her, rioting and smashing the windows of her car…
No matter what side of the dispute one was on the vast majority on both sides would never do what those extremists did.
But as always, the extremists get the headlines. And that tends to paint the entire religious community as extremists willing to terrorize people unlike themselves.
Which is of course far from the truth. Because even though they may agree in principle to why they were doing it, the vast majority of Charedim would never resort to taunting or physically attacking anyone. Much less a religious Jewish woman who happens to be the mayor of their city. The vast majority of Charedi public were just as abhorred by that as the secular/Dati public.
On the other side of the street, you have a tiny group of secular extremists. Such as the one that disrupted that Kol Nidre service at an outdoor location in Tel Aviv.
Although most secular Jews do not approve of separating the sexes in the public Square in Israel, and in that is in fact the law, they were nevertheless appalled by the secular extremists who disrupted those services.
And of course many if not most Charedi Jews paint all secular Jews by the actions of the few extremists. Thus exacerbating the hatred between the two groups that already exists.
You would think that the public outrage by many secular Jews about what those secular extremists did on the night of Yom Kippur would have a sobering effect on the extremists. That they would realize that their tactics are backfiring.
But if you think that, you think wrong. Because it happened again. As noted by VIN:
…a group of liberal secularists who gatecrashed a screening of a movie for women and young girls, claiming that it was gender separation in a public location. The activists prevented the screening from taking place, prompting one journalist to call them “superheros combatting little girls who came to see a movie.”
Even if they were technically right, about that event being an illegal gender separation in a public location, is this the hill they want to die on?!
As was the case about the incident on Yom Kippur night much of the secular population condemned this as well.
The point being that extremists are not about ideology at all. They are about hate. They have not the slightest interest in getting along with their fellow Jews. To the extremists on the right, all secular Jews are the enemy to be destroyed by any and all means at their disposal. The same is true about the extremist secular left. They have not the slightest interest in getting along with their fellow Jews. They want to destroy them by any and all means at their disposal.
Who are the victims of all this hate and rage? Us.
Is there anything being done about it? Not that I am aware of. Which means that things are only going to get worse. Unless…
Leaders on both sides of the street have the resolve to get together and learn how to live with each other and respect each other as human beings. And to oust from their Respective communities those who refuse to do that. The means to do that on the Charedi side of the street are there. Any further violence by extremists regardless of the just their perceived just cause - should be excommunicated.
Secular leaders can do something similar such as public condemnations and ostracizing them from any and all public fora. Regardless of any sympathy they may have for their cause.
Extremism should be replaced by a warm embrace of both sides for the other - each - accepting the other as human beings. And treated with dignity despite differences. And not seen as pieces of trash. The only people who are trash here are the incorrigible and unrepentant extremists on both sides.
Just sayin…