Posters offering ultra-Orthodox children cash prizes if they are arrested or hurt while accosting religious soldiers and policemen were found in the predominantly ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak on Tuesday, amid ongoing protests by extremist members of the community against Israel’s mandatory draft.
The posters, which were mockingly titled “real bravery against children” and included photos of a religious police officer arresting an ultra-Orthodox child, implore kids to yell at ultra-Orthodox soldiers and police “Hardakim out” — a derogatory term for ultra-Orthodox soldiers which sounds similar to the Hebrew words for insect and germ.
The flyers say “righteous children” up to the age of 15 are eligible to win NIS 530 ($150) if they are detained for shouting the slur, plus another NIS 290 ($80) if they are hit by officers while being arrested.
The anonymous posters also tell children that harassing ultra-Orthodox soldiers is a mitzvah, or religious duty, and that by doing so they “are on the side of God.”
“Remember pure children! You are on the side of the Torah, you are on the side of God, you will win! The evil-doers will not succeed in destroying your future. In order that we may have a part in your tremendous deed, we’ve decided to award every child that will dare to put himself inside a police car because he fulfilled the mitzvah of yelling ‘Hardakim out,’” the posters read.
בני ברק: פרס כספי לילדים. למי שיצעק “חרדקים החוצה”. עד מאות שקלים לאמיץ pic.twitter.com/q7ZXs1EvQJ
— nir dvori (@ndvori) May 30, 2017
Also on Tuesday, police arrested seven suspects, among them two minors, for attacking police officers disguised as soldiers in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim, Channel 2 reported.
Police said that the suspects were arrested after they crowded around the undercover officers and threw objects at them while yelling slurs,.
Tuesday’s incidents were the latest in which ultra-Orthodox Jews have incited against members of the community who join the Israeli military. The ultra-Orthodox have held dozens of demonstrations to protest the enlistment of religious Jews.
Earlier this month, a crowd of ultra-Orthodox men and women burned an effigy of an Israeli soldier in Mea Shearim, in an incident that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “despicable.”
Some segments of ultra-Orthodox society refuse to recognize the State of Israel and oppose Zionism, because of their belief that the establishment of a Jewish state should only come after the arrival of the Jewish Messiah. Most ultra-Orthodox Jews do not serve in the Israeli army.
