Another Sabbath, another riot

Remember how Intel tried to appease Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox population by announcing that it would no longer employ Jewish Israeli workers on Saturdays?

Didn't work: Several hundred religious extremists rioted outside the Intel plant in Jerusalem today, the second consecutive Shabbat protest. They want the plant shut down altogether on the Jewish Sabbath.

This charming crowd also attacked a vehicle driving on a nearby road. From Yedioth Ahronoth:

The protestors attacked the driver and passengers of a vehicle traveling on a road near the plant, prompting police to hold them back. No injuries were reported in the incident.

The hundreds of protestors yelled "Shabbos" near the plant's gates. Eyewitnesses said security guards kept them from entering Intel's grounds while police unsuccessfully attempted to disband the group.

[...] Haredim also yelled out derogatory terms at officers, calling them "Nazis" and "Leftists", and spat on journalists and photographers. A few dozen took to the rooftops of nearby factories.

(I know we Jews like to think Godwin's Law doesn't apply to us, but it does: When you start comparing police officers in the state of Israel to Nazis, you have lost your argument.)

Coincidentally, the U.S. State Department just released a very critical report about the state of religious freedom in Israel. Much of it dealt with the double standard Israel imposes on other religions: Non-Jewish holy sites, for example, are not officially protected, because the government does not recognize them as "holy sites."

But the report also talks about the deepening "animosity" between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews, particularly in Jerusalem.

In particular, members of Orthodox Jewish groups treated non-Orthodox Jews with manifestations of discrimination and intolerance. As in past years, ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem and other ultra-Orthodox enclaves threw rocks at passing motorists driving on the Sabbath and periodically harassed or assaulted women whose appearance they considered immodest, including by throwing acid on them.

A serious question, because my halakha is admittedly a little rusty: Shabbat is supposed to be a day of rest; doesn't rioting violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the law? If God really doesn't want Intel employees to make microprocessors on Saturdays, he sure as hell doesn't want haredim attacking passing drivers.

No Comments