After a break of several months in the campaign against
ultra-Orthodox soldiers, extreme haredi groups are resuming their battle ahead
of the approval of the IDF draft law expected during the Knesset's winter
session.
A comic book against military service, slamming haredi
soldiers and the secular establishment, has been distributed in different
haredi concentrations in recent days.
While the troops are presented this time
as stray sheep, ready to be sacrificed and corrupted and violate every rule in
order to appeal to the authorities, the seculars are presented as bloodthirsty
bears seeking to destroy the "sector of sheep."
One of the cartoons shows the sheep eating meat served to
them by the bears (instead of straw), a symbol of secularization which ends in
eating non-kosher animals.
Since the draft issue has been put on the agenda, a campaign
has been launched against 'Hardakim' (derogatory term for haredi soldiers used
within their own communities), denouncing members of the sector seeking to
enlist with the IDF.
So far, the campaign has included ads presenting the
soldiers as monsters and a prize-awarding competition among children for
drawing anti-Hardak cartoons.
This time too, the target audience is the young generation.
The goal is to educate haredi children against military service and in favor of
public denunciation and condemnation of the soldiers.
The people behind the sophisticated campaign have remained
anonymous, but the cartoonist in previous cases was Avichai Chen, who had a
complaint filed against him by a soldier who was attacked.
The ongoing incitement has resulted in acts of violence
against soldiers. The most serious incident made headlines about six months
ago, when a haredi soldier was attacked in the Mea Shearim neighborhood.
Additional testimonies were received n the following weeks
about soldiers being spat on and cursed on the haredi street, and sometimes
even attacked with stones.
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