Ultra-Orthodox rabbis openly call to avoid anti-Christian attacks in Jerusalem’s Old City

First public campaign by ultra-Orthodox Jews against ugly phenomenon

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An ultra-Orthodox activist started a public campaign calling on ultra-Orthodox Jews to stop harassing Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City on the eve of Passover, Israel Hayom reported on Wednesday.

Ahrale Friedman, a resident of the ultra-Orthodox Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, located in the newer part of Jerusalem, posted signs and pamphlets throughout the Old City’s alleyways, citing rulings by leading rabbinical authorities.

“We must uphold the honor of our Torah as sons of Abraham, who welcomed idol worshippers into his tent,” one pamphlet stated.

Some posters featured quotes by Rabbi Meir Tzvi Bergman, a member of the Rabbinical Advisory Panel that leads the ultra-Orthodox political party, United Torah Judaism (UTJ).

Rabbi Bergman said: “We must protest with all our might” against spitting incidents, which he called a “desecration of God’s name.”

Another quote by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar denounced the act of spitting at non-Jews, saying it is “completely forbidden.”

“Spitting and insulting others will not help us and may even harm global support for the [Gaza] war,” the pamphlet warned.

It also noted, with regret, that “wicked people” have used many such videos in the past to attack Jews abroad and spread antisemitism.

Friedman’s campaign is the first of its kind to go public in recent months, following several highly publicized incidents involving ultra-Orthodox Jews harassing Christians in the Old City.

Last year, similar campaigns were met with resistance from extreme residents of the Jewish Quarter who tore down posters quoting senior rabbis condemning the harassment, including Sephardic Chief Rabbi Amar,

In February, German Abbot Nikodemus Schnabel, the head of Jerusalem's Benedictine Catholic Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion was spat upon and harassed by two young ultra-Orthodox Jews.

The suspects were detained on the same day and released to house arrest.