Kikar is reporting about a Satmar summer camp that is going to be runnign an unusual activity. They are, supposedly, going to have a couple of people dressed up like Israeli Haredi soldiers, aka chardakim, and have them jump out of a helicopter into the camp and then try to convince the young Satmar boys to join the IDF. The boys will be given beans to throw at them and will refuse to be convinced by them.

The idea of this is, seemingly, to give the kids a sense of participation in a holy battle. As well, it probably will be in order to also make the issue more palpable to them.

When playacting it is common to wish the actor "break a leg". "Break a leg" in theater is an idiom for wishing the actor good luck, but there is a superstition against saying "good luck" directly.

In this instance, wishing these actors "break a leg" before they go jumping from the helicopter into this den of hate would be more literal...

as seen in RBS B - changed Chardak graffiti to "Chayal Charedi Kadosh"

a pashkevil of sorts was distributed around some Haredi areas of Jerusalem that calls for Haredi draftees to the IDF to kill female soldiers, to kill anybody involved in recruiting or drafting in the army, to kill any commander, and even to kill oneself, as the din of "yaharog v'al yaavor" requires.


The pashkevil is not signed, and is not even designed like the normal pashkevil put out by the Haredim who normally do these things.

There are all sorts of theories and/or accusations out there, and I am not going to feign any guesses as to who is behind this, but I will just say it looks like it isn't the people who normally do these things, and it might very well just be one evil person.

I hope the police and army police investigate, find the guy and prosecute to the fullest for incitement and for any other law he might have transgressed in the process, but I would not give too much significance to the piece of trash who put out the piece of trash, as he does not seem to have the regular anti-Zionist and anti-IDF organizations behind him. What he did is evil, but he is just one idiot doing something idiotic - he surely has no/little public influence, considering the style of the pashkevil.

the following video taken by Yaakov Lederman is of a mob in RBS B being aggressive in the presence of two Haredi IDF soldiers. It turns out this was a sting operation and it was undercover police who then turned around and arrested some of the ringleaders.

We have "gotten used to" these types of mobs. I don't mean we find them normal and acceptable, but we are not surprised by them any more.

As I was watching the video, it struck me that what bothered me more than the harassing of Haredi soldiers, as bad as that is, and more than the violence (only verbal in this video and not physical, though that happens as well on occasion) is that children have been trained to be disrespectful to adults. With no sense of perspective there are children boldly telling adults how to live their lives and what is right and what is wrong.

For that I grieve.

the following sign was posted in buildings in the Ezras Torah neighborhood of Jerusalem:

the sign call son local residents to be aware of someone living in a certain building who complained to the police about an avreich who "a spirit of stupidity entered him" and dealt a bit with children. and now, because he was ratted out to the police hsi life has been destroyed and has ever since bee in deep depression. Instead of going to speak with rabbonim he chose to snitch to the police. The author of the sign then calls out the "impure chardak" to leave the neighborhood and says he has no portion in the world to come and should not defile the neighborhood with his presence.

Very strange sign. his "dealing with kids" was just a moment of stupidity and no word about the lives of those kids being possibly ruined and the depression or other troubles they very well might soon find themselves in. The poor avreich who was busy with kids however is now depressed because his life was ruined over one stupid mistake. The kids aren't important, but the avreich perp is.

Also interesting to me is the use of the term "chardak". Until now that term has only been used in reference to Haredi soldiers in the IDF. there is no other indication in the letter that this person is a soldier, though it is possible - but if not, it is interesting they call him a chardak because he went to the police. So now anybody they don't like who doesn't toe the line is a chardak, and not just soldiers...

The entire "Chardak" campaign against Haredi soldiers in the IDF has been upsetting, disturbing and troublesome. It has been violent - physically, verbally, and mentally - and it has been tearing the community apart. From beginning to end. From the posters with the pig faces and the verbal attacks all the way to the public "shaming" of the soldiers and especially the physical attacks in various shuls in some Charedi strongholds. All of it.

Until now.

The latest stage in the Chardak campaign is actually cute and initially made me chuckle.

Supposedly the next stage will be a campaign offering a "trade in" so these soldiers can trade in their black yarmulkas and get knitted kippot in return.

Kaminetz, the dude who was arrested for being behind the shaming, revealed (that he "heard about" this upcoming campaign and explains it that Charedim and the army are "kilayim" and contradict each other, and this trade in campaign will put the color of the kipas back in order and back in the right places.
source: Kikar

besides for the "cuteness" of the campaign, it is funny in the sense that they think the color of the kipa is so important that just by changing the kipa it solves the problem, and certain kipas are supposed to be in some places and other kipas in other places...

there was a horrible attack in Mea Shearim - an army officer went to visit his soldiers, and was attacked by some of the locals.

As horrible as the attack was, and I hope this problem is dealt with at the highest levels, did you catch what happened? This officer was visiting his soldiers in Mea Shearim. His soldiers live in Mea Shearim!

Even Haredim in the heart of one of the most extreme Haredi, anti-army, neighborhoods in the country, are going into the army. Maybe not enough yet, but it is happening.

There is a silver lining to this story.

this is pretty funny and sick... this came off the Neturei Karta email list.. even though I now try to avoid bringing stupidity from the Neturei Karta here, this one deserves a mention..

they have taken a new approach in being anti-Israel and anti-IDF and have condemned the chardak campaign. How is condemning the Chardak campaign possibly anti-IDF?

well, read below and you will see - they condemn the chardak campaign for using imagery of pigs and comparing the Haredi soldiers to pigs. They say this is an unwarranted affront to pigs. Pigs are an animal that even merited being mentioned in the Torah and they did nothing to deserve being compared to chardaks.

the pashkevil is calling on the community to come out today and battle the Zionist Amalek and chase out of the Haredi nieghborhoods all the traitors in Nahal Haredi and Shachar programs...

thoughts:

the pashkevil just says Thursday of Ki Savo, which is today, but it does not say a time, so I guess it is today whatever time is convenient for you.

They should protect their community by learning Torah rather than going out to war...

I hope the police and military authorities are aware of this and will be out protecting innocent civilians and soldiers who might be targeted for violence..

I will call this Chardak 2.0 - at least until it takes off on its own and becomes a successful campaign. If it does, it will get its own name - Charpas.

According to Bechadrei, these pashkevils have been starting to sprout up. "Charpas" is what they are calling "Charedi Passul". A charedi passul, according to the sign is a charedi person who has Internet, iPhone and/or a non-kosher cellphone.

The are looking for funding and backers so they can get the campaign off the ground successfully. Maybe they should open a Kickstarter campaign.

A short while ago it seemed like the "Chardak" campaign was over. It had gone on a long hiatus, and then there was a court case against somebody who had been exposed as the original artist and owner of the artwork who was being sued for inciting violence.

Recently, though, some new "chardak" posters have gone up in various areas. In my impression, the art-work on the new signs looks different than the originals - it is not as good or effective, and, the new posters have not been spread as widely as they had been previously. I don't know why, but I suspect that it is now different people behind it than those who were originally there.

Anyways, a law is being proposed by which verbally or physically attacking a haredi soldier regarding his service will be punishable by 6 months in prison and a 250,000 NIS fine.

Yaakov Vieder, head of the Haredi branch of the Likud, has initiated the law proposal and has garnered support for it from MKs from all the parties in Knesset.

As explained in the law proposal, fringe groups have in recent years selected haredi soldiers as an easy target for their hatred, and as targets for verbal and physical attacks, knowing no significant criminal processes would be initiated against them. This law will send a unilateral message of the IDF standing strongly beside its soldiers and delineate clearly the balance between freedom of expression and incitement.

The Attorney General, however, let Vieder know that there is no need for such a law proposal - there is already a law against attacking or insulting soldiers and State employees, and haredi soldiers are included in this.
source: Kikar

2 questions:
1. if the law already protects haredi soldiers just like any other, why has little or nothing been done to that effect?
2. what happens if they don't know who is behind the insults and incitement, such as with this anonymous chardak campaign? How do they know who to punish? How does this new law (if it will pass) or the old law help protect the soldiers in the situation of the chardak campaign?

Is the "Chardak" campaign over?

After a long break, they recently came out with another edition of their Chardak publications, but since then they seem to have disappeared again.

Perhaps this is why. Last week a Jerusalem court order caricaturist Avishai Chen to issue an apology that will be distributed among all the army units in which Haredi soldiers serve. It has been determined that Avishai Chen is the caricaturist of the chardak campaign.

A Haredi soldier, Menachem Shtauber, sued Chen for 30,000NIS for incitement against him, a Haredi soldier, and hundreds of other Haredi soldiers. Shtauber had been physically attacked as a result fo the chardak campaign.

Chen denies responsibility, saying he was simply hired to draw images that were not supposed to be disparaging towards any soldiers. Chen claims after he gave in the drawings they were changed and publicized without his knowledge. He says that when he discovered his drawings had been altered he demanded that they no longer be publicized, but his demand was ignored.

In addition to the apology, the court also ordered that Chen transfer ownership of the images to Shtauber so that Shtauber can sue in the future anyone who makes use of them without his permission.
(source: Bechadrei)

As part of the decision they should have forced him to identify and testify against the person who is actually behind the campaign. And whoever that guy is, he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for incitement to violence against Israeli soldiers.

I have no idea if this is connected to the recent elections or not, but after a break of several months without a word or flyer against "chardakim", the campaign has gone live again.

Why do I wonder if the campaign was connected to the elections? Because the campaign went silent during the months leading up to elections, and now with elections behind us the campaign is back.

Interestingly enough, there have been accusations that the figure behind the chardak campaign was a publicist and Haredi PR person named Nuchem Barzasoky - the same fellow that ran the campaign for mayor of Bet Shemesh Moshe Abutbol. Barzosky has denied the claim, and has threatened to sue the person that revealed the information (or made it up), though I am not aware of any actual lawsuit. If it was Barzosky, it makes sense that there was a quiet period, as he was busy running an electoral campaign, and only now does he have time to get back to the chardak campaign. Furthermore, the chardak campaign could have hurt Abutbol and Haredi parties, as it might have driven potential voters away from supporting Haredi parties who have not condemned the campaign, have not done anything to stop it, or done anything to reassure haredi soldiers that they are not rejected by the mainstream haredim.

As far as I know, there is no proof it is Barzosky behind the chardak campaign.

I find it difficult to believe, also because of the timing - if he stopped and took a break because of the election campaign, how did he get this new item out so soon after elections - it takes time to prepare these things?. As well, why not wait until after everything quiets down, as the elections in Bet Shemesh might just not yet be over?

Regardless of the long-standing question of who is behind the campaign, the chardak campaign is back with a "comic book" called "Chardubim".

It is a despicable campaign that has in the past led to violence against haredi soldiers. It sows seeds of hatred in people, and especially in children. And it is not just against haredi soldiers as int he past - now it also portrays the secular community as blood-thirsty people.






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I think this pashkevil is important to be publicized..


The pashkevil was published by the person behind the "Chardak" campaign. The point he makes in the pashkevil is that the purpose of the campaign is to protest the charedim going into the army, and to impress upon the children that this is not acceptable and is not an option for them in the future. However, they do NOT condone the use of violence against any soldiers - the campaign is not inciting to violence and is not meant to cause violence. It is perfectly legal to scream whatever he wants about whomever he wants, and therefore the government has no business trying to stop the protest. They even say they have a lawyer involved in the campaign ensuring that whatever they do is legally ok.

Their lawyer probably told them they have to put out such an announcement, considering how inciting some of the imagery they used was. I wonder if this is lip service, or if they really mean it. I also wonder if it matters, if the signs they put out are full of inciting messages despite such a caveat. And most importantly, perhaps, whether it keeps them legally clean or not, does it really matter once people on the street are incited to violence, whether that was their intention or not?

We will use a firm hand against anybody who tries to impose fear on citizens who are fulfilling their obligations to the State... The best answer to these outlaws is the number of haredi draftees that has grown significantly in recent years, and will grow even more in light of the decision taken by the government at the beginning of the week about increasing the sharing of the burden..

  -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after hearing about the haredi soldier who was attacked in mea Shearim

This is probably not significant enough to be considered an effective response to the "Chardak" campaign. I do not see something like this having any effect, unless it snowballs and becomes a campaign joined by all Haredim who serve in the army and all those who support them.

ripped off of someone's Facebook page