Has the Defense Ministry decided to treat the members of the Jerusalem faction and the managers of the Haredi campaign as a terrorist organization? According to a report by Yehuda Schlesinger in Israel Today, Deputy Defense Minister Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan is working to increase pressure on the instigators against the Haredi soldiers, among other things by monitoring the sources of funding for the distributors of the 'Haredi campaign,' fighting against the newspaper 'Hapeles,' increasing resources for handling harassing phone calls, and toughening punishment.
According to the report, this was decided at a recent meeting held in Rabbi Ben Dahan's office, which was attended by representatives from the army's personnel department and the military attorney's office, along with a police representative and the state attorney.
In recent years, ultra-Orthodox members of the military, and especially those responsible for recruiting them, have suffered from constant harassment, including street ads, leaflets, graffiti, and videos. The culmination was a pamphlet containing The full details, including photos, of those who recruit Haredim. Some of them also 'deserve' constant phone harassment in the middle of the night and verbal attacks in public.
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Many parties are trying to combat the phenomenon. The Knesset tried to pass stricter laws, discussions were held in the various committees, and the police also sought to increase enforcement.
The one who is currently at the center of the target is the newspaper "Hapeles," the Jerusalem faction's publication, which is leading an agenda against ultra-Orthodox soldiers across the newspaper's pages.
The Deputy Minister of Defense wants to monitor his sources of funding and those of organizations affiliated with the faction. They also plan to increase monitoring of telephone harassment, and soon the punishment for instigators will be harsher.
""We feel that there is not enough deterrence and not enough enforcement on the issue of incitement against the Haredi soldiers," says Rabbi Ben Dahan. "It takes too long to catch the perpetrators, and even then it takes time to investigate and bring them to court, and even there the level of punishment is very low. It ends mainly with warnings and notices, not something significant that deters people, and we are working to change that.".
One of the points that the Deputy Minister of Defense wants to change is freedom of expression: "Freedom of expression in the State of Israel needs to be reduced. The state gives broad freedom of expression against its soldiers. Anyone can prepare a pamphlet against the soldiers, distribute inflammatory pamphlets, and that is included in the scope of freedom of expression. The threshold for examining freedom of expression needs to be raised and reduced in cases of incitement against ultra-Orthodox soldiers.".
He said, "The State of Israel must protect everyone who serves in the army, certainly those from the ultra-Orthodox community. I call on all MKs from the ultra-Orthodox community to condemn the violence against those who serve in the army and those who are involved in recruiting soldiers, so that this phenomenon will disappear from the world.".
The newspaper Hapeles is not really excited about Ben Dahan's statements. Yeshayahu Wein, the newspaper's deputy editor, told Israel Hayom: "I invite the deputy defense minister to look for the money, and I would be happy if he finds something. We live off of standing orders, the employees barely get paid. I am ready to help him find the millions. This is a joke.".
