Ultra-Orthodox in lockdown: Israel's ticking corona bomb

Saturday, February 06, 2021

Ultra-Orthodox in lockdown
Israel's ticking corona bomb

From Tal Leder, Tel Aviv

Many Israelis are angry because strict believers repeatedly violate corona rules. Demands are being made to stop being blackmailed by a radical minority.

With more than five million citizens vaccinated, Israel is vaccination champion. Nevertheless, the Jewish state is in the midst of a profound crisis that threatens to tear apart its social fabric and throw its political system into turmoil. Because despite the successful vaccination marathon, Israel had to impose a third lockdown, as peak values ​​in new corona infections are pushing the health system to its limits.

Around 40 percent of new infections affect ultra-orthodox people. This is also due to the fact that some of the "Haredim", the godly, consistently disregard the Corona measures. Only last Sunday a funeral procession with tens of thousands made the pilgrimage to the burial of two famous rabbis in Jerusalem.

"This event turned the government's virus restrictions into a farce," complains left-wing activist Inbal Gottlieb. "The safety regulations are repeatedly trampled underfoot." Your group "Crime Ministers" regularly demonstrates against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next to his Jerusalem residence. "There are double standards here, because while the police arrest students during our demonstrations, they did not intervene at the funeral and let them have their way."

"The country is being blackmailed by the Haredim"

Violations of the ultra-orthodox against the corona measures are not new. The conflict with the security authorities has been fermenting for months, and violent riots broke out in their neighborhoods when the police came to enforce health regulations. A bus burned out in Bnei Berak, a suburb of Tel Aviv. "The reaction of many Haredim is the logical consequence of more than 40 years of VIP treatment in Israel, which freed them from our laws and social norms," ​​says Gottlieb.

In Israel, young people have long been vaccinated.

(Photo: REUTERS)

As everywhere, the corona pandemic exposes social problems in Israel. Here it shows, for example, how divided Israeli society is. The general anger about the special position of the ultra-orthodox is great. But the real anger is directed at the government, which has allowed strict believers to run a "state within a state" for decades.

"The country has been blackmailing the Haredim for too long," says Professor Yedidia Stern from the Institute for Israeli Democracy in Jerusalem. "People are no longer ready to support a community of over a million people whose leaders despise Western values ​​and reject secular authorities."

Religious parties have been involved in government without interruption since the establishment of the state of Israel. In 1948, the first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion agreed on the status quo of the relationship between the religious and the secular part of society, which is still valid today. The haredim were granted exemption from military service so that they could concentrate fully on Jewish studies. Today, just under 50 percent have a job. The government supports them with tax breaks and high social benefits. When a right-wing coalition led by Menachem Begin's Likud party came to power in 1977, it gained political importance and received higher budgets, privileges and authority. Since then, the religious parties have also been considered close allies of the conservatives.

"Our governments have always refused to make an acceptable social pact with the Haredim," says Yedidia Stern. "Considerations about political coalitions – at the expense of a long-term treaty on coexistence and mutual respect – always came first."

Number of new infections at Haredim four times higher

The political scientist explains how Israeli politics have been blackmailed by the devout Jews for decades. "The incapacity of the current government in the face of the behavior of the ultra-Orthodox is evident during the pandemic," Stern said. "Your disregard of the law could irreparably damage the rule of law, cause further unnecessary deaths from corona, and fuel the rift in society."

The fastest growing population in the country, with an average of 6.5 children per family, often lives in poverty. Weddings continue to take place in their isolated residential areas, synagogues and religious universities are also open. And so the number of new infections continues to rise despite the impressive vaccination campaign. It is four times higher among the Haredim than in the rest of the population. Netanyahu ignores this because he is dependent on the religious parties. A corruption process is in progress against him.

A new parliament will be elected in Israel at the end of March. While the prime minister is fighting for his political survival, the ultra-orthodox's disregard for corona protective measures and his inaction against it are causing him damage. According to polls, most of the Israeli electorate does not want to see the orthodox in the next government. "Neither the religious leadership nor the politicians know how to lead the orthodox through this crisis," says Inbal Gottlieb. The activist hopes that Netanyahu will now be voted out of office. She sees the inaction of the security authorities against the violations of the Haredim as a turning point. "Corona will go away, but the conflict with the ultra-orthodox will reverberate."