Jerusalem – Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews hurled stones and violently clashed with Border Police and law enforcement officials in Jerusalem on Friday to protest the opening of a new cinema that operates on the Jewish Sabbath.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Authorities sealed a number of roadways in the capital due to the rioting.
The capital’s latest multiplex movie complex, Yes Planet Jerusalem, had its grand opening earlier this week. The 16-screen, six-story theater is located just off Hebron Road on Naomi Street in the Abu Tor neighborhood.
The 28,500 square meter compound is the latest venture for the Yes Planet chain, which already has movie theater complexes in Haifa, Ramat Gan and Rishon Lezion. The Jerusalem Yes Planet was built in a little over a year at a cost of approximately NIS 200 million.
Real kiddish Hashem these fanatics are making!
Such protests are a backfiring waste of time. The non-observant and the non-Jews look at such demonstrations as the ravings of fanatic, anachronistic loonies. (I did before I took on ‘ol malchus shomayim.) A good bowl of cholent and an invitation to a Shabbos meal, followed by a sincere offer to learn of one’s rich heritage (Torah) will go further and faster than these ravings.
Kiddush Hashem. This is what was needed a month ago against the gay parade. Keep up the good work my holy brothers. Fight the atheists.
I must say, I am getting sick and tired of observant Jews being referred to in the media as “Ultra Orthodox.” I see this as a perjorative term implying that there’s something wrong with or abnormal about observant Jews. You never see a devout Catholic or Protestant being referred to as Ultra anything. Why not refer to observant Jews as devout Jews? It has a different kind of flavor. I certainly find it odd that a frum Jewish website would use this term. Unless you think you’re the New York Times, y’mach sh’mo.
There has to be a better way to react than these emotional looked-down upon “macho’s”. This corporation must own many different ventures. Do an economic boycott. March peacefully. Put ads in the paper or on a billboard. But, seriously, throwing rocks? Cavemen did it. And today it’s only Arab teenagers and chareidim.
Pretty ironic that these guys want to protect their kids from seeing people breaking Shabbos and show them the proper way to live, by themselves behaving like animals.
The truth is that protests accomplish nothing in Israel. Unfortunately, if the character of the city is to be preserved, civil disobedience at the very least is going to be necessary, and throwing stones is better.