Secular protesters confronted religious Jews in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square on Yom Kippur on Sunday evening when the service included a separation between male and female worshippers.
Rosh Yehudi, a religious group, has been holding the public Yom Kippur prayers in Israeli cities ever since the coronavirus pandemic, when indoor gatherings were restricted. They have since decided to continue the practice.
The traditional gender divide, called a mechitzah, was in accord with Orthodox Jewish tradition, but in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling that barred the separation of genders in public spaces. Tel Aviv authorities had chosen not to block the prayer, but protesters did.
The Times of Israel reported:
Protesters then pulled down the flags and removed the chairs that organizers had set up, effectively preventing the service.
The incident sparked angry exchanges of words between activists on both sides and one secular demonstrator was detained by police for some three hours before being released.
Hundreds of demonstrators could be seen standing next to the area of the prayer service and chanting “shame, shame,” at the participants. Most of the worshipers left shortly afterward.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Twitter (via Google Translate):
The people of Israel sought to unite on Yom Kippur by asking for forgiveness, forgiveness and unity among us. To our astonishment, precisely in the Jewish state, on the holiest day for the Jewish people, left-wing demonstrators rioted against Jews during their prayer. It seems that there are no boundaries, no norms and no reservation for hatred from the extremists on the left. I, like most Israeli citizens, reject this. Such violent behavior has no place in us.
The incident illustrates the reason many religious parties support Netanyahu’s push for judicial reform: they feel the Supreme Court, dominated by secular jurists, does not understand or empathize with their traditional values.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Photo: file
