Violence in the ultra-orthodox line: A., a resident of Elad, traveled yesterday (Sunday) on line 577 of the ‘Quim’ company, on her way from a government office in Jerusalem, where she serves as a national service member, to her home in the ultra-orthodox city.
Along with her, about 20 followers got up at the station. She, as usual, sat at the front of the bus, as she suffers from nausea.
Then a violent incident began again. A says that she experiences a daily routine of humiliation and violence from extremists who get on the bus, but yesterday the violence towards her crossed the line.
Last night, in the evening hours, A and her ultra-Orthodox mother went to the police station in the town of Elad, and the two filed a complaint against the Hassidim, who do not live in the city at all, but study at a yeshiva that opened in Elad last year.
The story was first revealed by Tali Parkash on Ynet.
In a special conversation with Haredim 10, A describes the violence she has experienced in recent months, and the attack she experienced yesterday: “For two years I have been traveling on buses from Elad to Jerusalem and vice versa. I experienced many cases of verbal violence towards me. But yesterday the water came up to the soul.
“Following work on the light rail, the stations of line 577 and line 277 have moved to the area of ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in Jerusalem. The city of Elad is not like that. There is no violence in it. There is acceptance of the other. But unfortunately an extremist faction entered the city that made many women and girls feel afraid.
“Yesterday, when I was on my way home, a group of about 20 ultra-Orthodox guys got on the bus and decided that it didn’t suit them that I was sitting in the front. I suffer from nausea and vomiting and sitting in the back is not good for me, so I continued to sit.
“After I did not respond to their request, they started saying and teasing: ‘Woman, woman cover your face’, ‘Sit in the back’, ‘Get up quickly’, ‘Shiksa’ and quite a few other words. During the trip it even became violent – there were harassments, hair pulling from behind. At first I thought I was imagining it, until I felt my hair being pulled hard.
“A Hasidic guy who sat in a chair next to me in the second row, he didn’t like that I continued to sit despite everything, and decided to take off his shoe and put his smelly sock next to me, maybe it would help me get up.”
According to her, “Apart from my case, there are other cases in the city of Elad involving farm girls, but unfortunately there is no response to the matter and many prefer not to be exposed or to share – out of fear.”
A. emphasizes: “I don’t have a problem with the ultra-orthodox public and I come from it, so I don’t go against an entire community, only against these extremists who harass us on the streets of the city, and on quite a few buses.” I do not wish anyone to go through such humiliation. Unfortunately, this happened in the week when Tisha B’Av fell and the Temple was destroyed for gratuitous hatred. Very unfortunate”.
In a conversation with A’s ultra-Orthodox mother – she says: “Recently it’s been happening too much. What happened yesterday, is the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’. She came home shaking all over, the whole time she was on the bus I was on the line with her. I tried to get Israel Parosh, the police, they were unable to send her the car to the bus. They said that they would be stopped at the checkpoint, in the end it turned out that line 577 does not go through the checkpoint at all.
“They came up with her. She sat at the front of the bus. They said: ‘Woman, woman, come on, get out of here.’ Another girl was sitting next to her, but she got up and went to sit in the back. My daughter suffers from vomiting, she always sits in the front, can’t sit in the back.
“She stayed. They tried to involve the bus driver, who shouted that he was not a policeman, he was trying to protect her. They were pulling her hair, she thought she was imagining. It was not unreasonable for someone to touch her, so she moves, she leans back on the seat and again feels another strong pull on her hair. She was shocked. She is the one who sees wrongdoing and protects others, here she is herself. She didn’t have the courage to enter them.”
The mother adds: “No one on the bus stood up to defend her, this is the hardest thing for me. Everyone who was on the bus, including ultra-Orthodox women, had to stand up and defend themselves. Bat Yisrael is being abused here and you don’t care?!
“The smelly sock he put on her… I told her: ‘Throw the sock away.’ She said: ‘I don’t touch it.’ She wanted to get up for the bus driver, to figure out exactly where they were to tell the police to get to them, but they didn’t allow her to get up, like what they do in demonstrations. The police called her and could not reach her, because she was not receptive.
“I wanted the car to wait for them at the entrance to the city, in the end they came to our house and started an event. They said go to the police and file a complaint. We spent two hours at the police station. There are also photos on the bus, which the investigator said they would take.”
The mother, who knows Mayor Elad Israel Forosh, turned to him: “I’m waiting for Forosh to contact me, I was talking to him while the incident was happening. he said what He was in shock. He said he is taking care of it now. Until now he hasn’t gotten back to me… I called him last night and he hasn’t gotten back to me.”
What do you expect to happen?
“We want someone to wake up here in the city and stop this group, they didn’t come to educate us. They are new in town, they are sitting here, we have no problem with them. If they don’t get along with the population, don’t leave their yeshiva. They will not destroy the city!
“Women responded to me that they were also spat on, and they don’t respond well to our girls. For them it is girls who are not modestly dressed. He must enter the yeshiva where they are and tell them unequivocally: You will not terrorize this city.
“As soon as I know who it is, who attacked my daughter, I will sue them civilly.”
The mother later said: “On Friday, the mayor made sure to put up a post on Facebook, he came in a so-called ‘pleasant way’, he writes and nicely asks the boys who are walking around the street on Shabbat night, not to concentrate on Ben Zakai Street, because it disturbs the residents – and I understand them.
“I have no idea who did it, but only extreme people would do it. They spread skunks in the street, so that they would not sit at bus stops, they vandalize bus stops, so that the boys would not sit there on Shabbat night. But why in a violent way?
“Then the mayor wrote: Don’t let me bring in the cleaners. Say, are you normal? Boys, residents of this city, you threaten them instead of giving them a solution, where do you let them hang out on Saturday night, some center.
“What do you want to do in this city? Instead of taking care of the extremists who make a mess in the city, he tries to take care of the residents. Hence, I expect from him: as he threatened the boys, so he will deal with these extremists. The residents are fed up. Don’t mess with the modest and immodest women, that’s not their job.”
Mayor Yisrael Parosh’s response has not yet been received. When received – published.