Jerusalem - Comic book incites against haredi IDF troops

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.