Effigies of IDF soldiers that were hanged in an ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood on Friday in protest of government attempts to conscript haredi yeshiva students drew sharp criticism from the police and lawmakers.
On Friday morning, police removed a doll dressed as a soldier that had been hanged in Mea Shearim. An initial probe into the incident indicated that the effigy had been soaked with an accelerant, apparently in preparation to burn it later. Police said they were working to locate the individuals responsible.
A few hours later, police were scrambled to a similar scene in Beit Yisrael in the capital. This time, the effigy had specifically been made up as a haredi soldier, with a drawn-on beard and sidelocks and a black kippah. The police removed the effigy. The third incident was reported shortly before the beginning of Shabbat in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood, where an effigy of a soldier had been hanged in the window of an empty apartment.
"The Israel Police will not allow any incident that carries a whiff of harming those in uniform, and will work diligently and use all means at its disposal to find the people behind this," the police said in a statement.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman tweeted, "The sight of a soldier doll hanged in Mea Shearim is horrific. My job as defense minister is to defend even inciters like these [referring to the people responsible for the effigy]. My job as a citizen is to fight them politically. The authorities' job is to put them behind bars. I expect the leaders of the haredi parties to condemn this act."
Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid said, "Once again, a doll dressed as a soldier is hanged like the evil Haman in Mea Shearim in Jerusalem. The Israeli government cannot remain silent in the fact of [the haredim] evading IDF service and inciting against soldiers. The haredi leadership should publicly take a stance against things like this."
Last year, extremist ultra-Orthodox activists hanged three IDF soldiers in effigy, execution style. The dolls used in that incident were labeled "hardak" – a haredi insult for men from the community who enlist in the army. When teams of police and firefighters arrived to remove the figures, masses of outraged haredim gathered and began harassing them. Two suspects were arrested and brought in for interrogation.
