Tag Archives: Ultra Orthodox

Dozens Killed In Israel Ultra-Orthodox Stampede

The BBC reports: At least 44 people have been killed in a crush at a crowded religious festival in the north-east of Israel. Dozens more were injured at the Lag B’Omer celebration, which takes place annually at the foot of Mount Meron. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to the scene and said Sunday would be a day of national mourning. …

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ISRAEL: Ad Companies Ordered To Run Extremist Party Billboards Accusing Gay Parents Of Child Trafficking

Haaretz reports: Advertising companies have to run the anti-gay campaign ads created by the ultra-Orthodox-Zionist Noam party, the acting chairman of the Central Elections Committee Neal Hendel [photo] ruled Tuesday. Hendel determined that in their decision not to run Noam ads, some billboard companies had derogated from equality and freedom of expression, and caused “effective harm to [Noam’s] ability to …

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ISRAEL: 2500 Police Protect Jerusalem Pride Parade, Dozens Of Ultra-Orthodox Protesters Arrested [VIDEO]

The Voice Of America reports: Thousands of people marched through the streets of Jerusalem on Thursday in the city’s annual gay pride parade, a festival that exposes deep divisions between Israel’s secular and Jewish ultra-Orthodox camps. Some 10,000 revelers waving rainbow flags joined the carnival-like procession, as over 2,500 police officers in plain clothes, in uniform and on horseback patrolled …

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Israeli Parliament May Dissolve In Ultra Orthodox Flap

Bloomberg reports: Israel’s newly elected parliament is drafting a bill to dissolve itself. The move comes as a deadline to form a coalition government nears with no progress in sight. If the bill passes, Israel would face its second election campaign in a matter of months. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to have a clear path to a majority coalition …

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Brooklyn Rabbis Back Off Ban On Lesbian Comedian

The New York Daily News reports: City anti-discrimination law trumped religious rules in the case of a Jewish lesbian comic Brooklyn rabbis sought to bar from performing at a kosher restaurant on New Year’s Eve. The Vaad Harabanim of Flatbush had put the kosher kibosh on Leah Forster’s gig after it decided allowing the restaurant to host it would be …

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Brooklyn Rabbis Threaten To Yank Kosher Certification From Venues If Lesbian Comic Is Allowed To Perform

The New York Daily News reports: It may be kosher — but it’s not right. A popular Jewish comic from Brooklyn was booted from two different eateries because the local kosher police threatened to yank their religious stamp of approval on the food if a lesbian performed there. Leah Forster, 36, whose stand-up schtick features the insular Orthodox world she …

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ISRAEL: Jerusalem Pride Draws Huge Crowd Under Heavy Police Protection After 2015 Murder [VIDEO]

The Times Of Israel reports: Thousands of people marched through central Jerusalem under heavy security on Thursday in the city’s 16th annual pride parade. The annual march was the scene of a deadly attack two years ago, and often draws protests from the far-right and ultra-Orthodox community. Police said that 12 people had been detained for questioning. They were suspected …

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BROOKLYN: Ultra-Orthodox Sect’s Ear-Splitting Shabbat Alarm Brings Hearing Damage Complaints [VIDEO]

The alarm sounds much like a high-pitched air raid siren. Gothamist reports: Long-time Brooklynites may be familiar with the siren noises that resound on Friday evenings in neighborhoods across the borough. This noise, which signals the beginning of Shabbat, gives observant Jews a heads up that it’s time to head home before sundown. The sirens are especially common in neighborhoods …

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ISRAEL: Court Strikes Down Restraining Orders Which Barred Anti-LGBT Protesters From Tel Aviv Pride

From Israel National News: A Tel Aviv court on Wednesday struck down dozens of restraining orders Israeli police had issued against opponents of this Friday’s planned gay pride parade. The orders, which would have barred the individuals from approaching the route of the parade in Tel Aviv, were issued against dozens of haredi and national religious activists. Police had called …

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Jerusalem Pride Killer Convicted Of Murder

The Jerusalem Post reports: Yishai Schlissel, who stabbed participants in the July 2015 Gay Pride Parade in the capital, was convicted on Tuesday of murder and six counts of attempted murder by the Jerusalem District Court. The court in its ruling also slammed Israeli police apparatus for knowing about Schlissel and not stopping him. “It’s unconscionable,” the court said during …

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BROOKLYN: Animal Rights Activists Battle Hasidic Jews Over Chicken Sacrifice Ritual [VIDEO]

The ritual calls for waving the chicken over your head three times and then slitting its throat as a promise to repent for sinning. Or something. Gothamist was on the scene: The stench of death, of hot entrails, feces, and blood, pulled at the nostrils of the hundreds crowded along on a closed-off half-block of President Street in Crown Heights …

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NEW YORK CITY: Board Of Health Repeals Consent Forms For “Snip-N-Suck” Circumcisions

Even though baby boys continue to contract herpes from their rabbis, yesterday the New York City Board Of Health repealed its requirement that Ultra Orthodox parents sign a Bloomberg-era consent form which warns them about a controversial circumcision ritual. Gothamist rants: After a few years of toothless bureaucracy and a minimal amount of government involvement, New York City is a …

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