Police have launched an investigation into an incident in which a 15-year-old girl was forced to flee a mob of ultra-Orthodox men angered by her "immodest" clothing in Beit Shemesh.
The incident, which took place in the Ramat Beit Shemesh B neighborhood shortly after sundown on Sunday, was filmed by an onlooker, who posted the footage to social media sites, sparking protests by secular residents over haredi coercion in the city.
The footage shows the girl, who was wearing shorts and a top, walking along a street when she is spotted by a group of several dozen ultra-Orthodox men, who begin shouting at her and chasing her. She managed to escape them and was not physically harmed.
While the girl has not filed a police complaint, the police have launched an investigation.
Some of the haredi men who harassed the girl in Beit Shemesh on Sunday evening
On Monday evening, a group of Beit Shemesh activists who protest regularly against haredi harassment of civilians and soldiers in the city met to discuss the latest incident.
"We go into their [the ultra-Orthodox] neighborhoods and 'get them back' for what they do to us. Sometimes, it buys us quiet for a few months, and then the same thing happens again," one protester said.
She claimed that the police "haven't done much" to address the ongoing problem, and that security cameras that had been installed were not effective in curbing the harassment.
"In my opinion, this entire area needs to be covered with cameras. This is a dangerous area. They [the harassers] aren't haredim – they're different. We have nothing against the haredim," she said.
She added that "things would be different" if the justice system began treating cases of street harassment more severely.
Eva Medzhybizh, director general of the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women, said action must be taken to curb the harassment.
"The situation we have been exposed to is a frightening low, and we cannot ignore it," she said.
"I see the authorities, the rabbis, the police, and the government as bearing equal responsibility to stand united and make it clear that brutality toward women in public places is a serious crime that will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Women in Israel cannot be asked to walk around with security measures out of fear they will be attacked."
