Haredi rioters indicted for threats, trespassing

Eleven haredim who rioted and disrupted emergency room construction at Barzilai Hospital charged with threatening security guards; one defendant accused of threatening: 'We will exterminate you, Nazi'

Shmulik Hadad|Published: 09.06.10 , 15:36

"We will find you. We will come to your home. We will burn you. We will hurt you. We will exterminate you. Nazi, rebel, murderer, despicable person. We will take care of you and will kill you."

hese are just some of the threats hurled at a Barzilai Hospital security officer by haredim protesting the relocation of graves on the site, according to an indictment issued Monday against 11 of the rioters.

The indictment was issued in Ashkelon Magistrates' Court against 11 haredi residents of Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem. They were charged with trespassing, making threats, and disrupting a public servant.

The indictment says that the haredim arrived at the hospital on August 22 at 3 pm in an effort to halt construction at the site. Some of them lay down in front of two tractors. One of them climbed on a tractor while its engine was still running and thus succeeded in halting the construction at the site. The defendants did not abide by the security guards orders that they leave the site.

The indictment states that the defendants cursed at the security guards, saying things like, "Die, Nazi. Get brain cancer."

When the police came to evacuate the haredim, they refused to cooperate. Later, the hospital's security officer, Yaniv Yehezkel, also arrived at the site. One of the haredim allegedly identified him by his nametag and said he would later hunt him down and kill him.

One of the defendants, Menachem Mendel Taup, had already been arrested at the hospital on another occasion. That time, he had been indicted for disobeying a legal order. He had been banned by Judge Noga Shmueli-Meyer from entering Ashkelon until legal proceedings against him conclude, but he did not obey.