It doesn’t take a genius to understand what happened in Bnei Brak.
Are Jews the only people in the world who are expected to calmly accept the presence of those who repeatedly harm them?
Just as the international community demands that Israel “sustain” the Palestinians—ignoring the absurdity of forcing the victim to feed the snake—so too are Israelis, and even some within our own community, condemning the boys of Bnei Brak for daring to resist.
But let’s be clear about one thing: The soldiers were never attacked. They were jeered. They were booed. They were confronted by a large crowd that refused to let them enter the neighborhood. That kind of response would be considered normal and justified anywhere else in the world.
Yet when the protesters are chareidim, and the authorities are “Israeli soldiers,” suddenly it is labeled “violence.”
The soldiers were not assaulted. They were resisted. They were viewed with suspicion because, in the broader experience of this community, state power has too often been used in predatory ways—even if, in this specific instance, no physical harm was intended.
And despite that history, they were still not attacked. They were opposed.
Look at the pattern. At these protests, police officers are almost never injured, but young boys are routinely beaten.
The officers walk confidently through these demonstrations because they know they are unlikely to be harmed. The imbalance of power is obvious. It resembles a lion stalking a herd of bison. The bison do not attack. They defend themselves through numbers. Only when the lion circles, threatens, provokes, and presses closer and closer does the herd finally react.
That is what happened here.
Across the world, when authorities are seen as harassing or abusing a community, it is understood—almost instinctively—that resistance will follow. People defend themselves when pushed too far.
But here, a powerful enforcement apparatus confronts a community that asks only to be left alone. And when that community bands together to block intrusion, to assert its boundaries, to say “enough,” it is branded as violent. The victims become the aggressors and the powerful become the “endangered.”
That is hypocrisy at its purest.
And turning this episode into a moral indictment of an entire community is nothing less than a modern blood libel.
Signed,
C.B.
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15 Responses
C.B.’s letter is a masterpiece of self-delusion, inverting victims and villains while whitewashing a mob that chased two terrified female soldiers through Bnei Brak’s streets, flipped police cars, and torched a motorcycle—complete with tefillin and siddurim inside. This wasn’t “resistance” or “jeering.” It was a riot, pure and simple, captured on video for the world to see. And as a frum yid, I am sickened by it. This is chillul Hashem on steroids, a desecration that shames every Torah-observing Jew.
But let’s not pretend this erupted in a vacuum. The leaders of the community in Israel – demonize the state as “predatory,” and incite against any hint of draft or authority—have been sowing these poisonous seeds for decades. Their fiery pashkevilim, their blanket condemnations of soldiers as goyim (or worse), these are the fertilizers that grew this extremism. They taught generations that the IDF is the enemy, that compromise is betrayal, that “boundaries” mean barricades and brawls. Now the genie is out of the bottle: a feral minority runs wild, burning, chasing, and rioting in the name of Torah, while the rest of us Orthodox Jews watch in horror as our reputation burns with it.
C.B. calls media coverage a “blood libel.” The real libel is excusing this as “normal resistance.” Even Haredi leaders like Rav Yitzchak Yosef, Aryeh Deri, and Rabbis Lando and Hirsch have denounced it as antithetical to Torah—calling for expulsion from the camp. Why? Because it is. The Torah’s ways are pleasantness and peace, not this anarchy.
The Chareidi world faces a crisis of its own making. Until the gedolim own their role in unleashing this monster—and rein it in with real leadership, not more rhetoric—the shame will only deepen. Enough.
פְּרוק יַת עָנָךְ מִפּוּם אַרְיְוָתָא
וְאַפֵּיק יַת עַמֵּךְ מִגּו גָּלוּתָא
I’d add: why do people instantly and reflexively accept the version spread by the police, who have absolutely no halachik neemanus (they don’t have any other – secular – integrity either, but why quibble over that?) and are quick to vilify Torah Jews, who we are obligated to judge favorably??
Do folks keep halacha??
I suggest that a public apology and redress would be appropriate.
The author of the letter was either not there or is blind. The hooligans burned soldiers’ possessions and brutally attacked them – because they were soldiers without knowing why they were there. They obviously have nothing to do with their time (like learn!) so they should be drafted.
“That kind of response would be considered normal and justified anywhere else in the world” Repsonse to what? How is a couple of young women representing the institution that keeps everyone safe visiting a neighborhood invoke this type of response? Harrassing and abusing a coummunity? How is expecting that they share the burden that everyone else is carrying harrassing and abusing? Not to say that the army is perfect but this is off the rails and rather than blame others it would be productive to turn inwards and self reflect.
This is completely delusional. Would the letter writer say the same about the BLM protesters, that they are just “resisting”? Is Hamas just “resisting” Israel’s blockade?
I don’t think the government is completely justified in its stance, but both sides are being ridiculous. For a community that is seen as representing Hashem to turn to violence, and it’s justified by saying it’s just resistance is a tremendous chilul Hashem.
What’s the answer. Sit down and negotiate like civilized people. If you really don’t want to be citizens of the state, go live in a cave and create a whole new community.
Kudos to the op for a much needed piece
The idf IS the enemy. they hate Yiddishkeit they love Israel
Those are 2 very different things
To some like the clown above they are identical to yidden they couldn’t be further apart
letter writer knows better than all the gedolim and leaders. what gaiva.
The soldiers with the agenda knew what they were asking for and knew they wouldn’t be attacked and they got exactly that
Of course they’re wrong, and hypocrites. Violence is always allowed on their side etc.
But is yelling “Nazi” the way of a בן תורה? How about burning a police motorcycle?
The letter writer CB is correct. The history of the founders of Zionism were individuals who hated Judaism. Their plan was to created a Hebrew speaking Portugal. They succeeded in destroying hundreds of thousands of young souls with atheistic indoctrination. They emulate the lowest goyim of the world. Tattoo shops,gay parades,pork stores,etc. Tel Aviv is known as the sin capital. Their rebellion of Jewish values is everywhere. Shabbos is discarded. There is no respect for Torah observance. It’s just cultural nonsense. The Supreme Court is made up of lefty secular looneys. The army elite are mostly lefty’s.
C.B. is, absolutely, 100% correct.
Thank you C.B. for writing this article.
What a huge pile of garbage.
ואהבת לרעך כמוך
Sorry C.B. unommin is right on. You are clueless.
My favorite sentence is, “a powerful enforcement apparatus confronts a community that asks only to be left alone.”
“A powerful enforcement apparatus?” You mean a government? The same government that provides all of the services like police, fire, medical, army? A government that — like all governments — has the right to use force to maintain civil order?
“A community that asks only to be left alone.” Only that. Just leave us alone. Oh, and also give us millions of shekels in money to live off of, and give us all of the government services, and by the way we don’t work so we won’t being paying our share of taxes. And military service is off the table. Other than that, we just want to be left alone.
Give me a break.