Haredim are upset, and rightfully so.
A cartoon by Amos Biderman that appeared in Haaretz on Thursday, depicts Shas party leader Aryeh Deri and United Torah Judaism party head Moshe Gafni and his fellow party member Moshe Litzman under a banner reading: "The coronavirus is back." In the cartoon, a speech bubble has Litzman saying: "We have to organize a festive meal."
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The insinuation is clear: It makes no difference that there are no Haredim in Binyamina and Modiin – the centers of Israel's most recent outbreak, and that the variants making their way into the country are being imported by Israelis, a majority of whom are not religious, passing through Ben-Gurion Airport. As far as Biderman and his emissaries at the radical left-wing newspaper are concerned, the Haredim are to blame.
The ultra-Orthodox may not have caused the infections, yet even with the tiniest percentage of infections in the sector, it seems there are those who would blame them for the outbreak, an act any newspaper would be forced to describe as antisemitic had it happened overseas. Antisemitism is the hatred of Jews without regard to what they have done or are guilty of in practice. Here, it seems, a clear, red line has been crossed in such a way that is reminiscent of the kind of antisemitic posters that have been displayed around the world over the last few centuries. While the cartoon alludes to a message, that message is still fairly clear, and that is that no matter who imports the virus or who breaks the rules, the Haredi sector is to blame. Why? Because we said so. The variant made its way into the country through Ben-Gurion Airport and secular Israelis didn't adhere to quarantine guidelines, you say? Nevertheless, the Haredim are still to blame.
For many months throughout this pandemic, the Haredi sector fumed as TV channels blew the community's violations of coronavirus guidelines out of proportion while ignoring the problems of the general population. Sometimes their criticism was justified, other times they were mistaken in their judgment.
One of the central claims made by Haredim was that the incitement was sometimes carried out subconsciously, through the selection of a photograph of a Haredi individual for either a newspaper, internet, or TV report that had nothing to do with them. This week, these complaints were back with a vengeance. At first, I believed they were exaggerating. After all, the pandemic was behind us, or so I thought, so why would a TV station discriminate against Haredim? It must be a mistake.
I am no longer so sure this is the case. The fact that Haaretz dared to blame a sector that has nothing to do with the recent outbreak of the pandemic is shameful, insolent, and amounts to clearly dangerous incitement.
We must clearly and unambiguously say: The Haredim have nothing to do with the current outbreak, and any attempt to blame them for it is dangerous incitement that could cost people's lives. It is an absolute disgrace that Haaretz, which purports to be "a newspaper for thinking people," has allowed such blatant incitement reminiscent of antisemitic cartoons. If there is room to point the finger at the Haredim, then it is only legitimate and logical to do so. Attempts to paint the Haredim as the guilty party behind an outbreak that is the direct result of a secular public that has decided it doesn't give a damn about the guidelines, however, are nonsensical and downright unethical.
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