Haredi neighborhood in Jerusale (illustration)
Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg
Palestinian dresses up as Hasidic Jew to avoid harassment
Nasser, a maintenance worker at a yeshiva, finds a creative way to move around freely in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, with a little help from his Haredi friends.
A Palestinian laborer found a creative way to move around freely in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and avoid harassment following the recent wave of terror: He dressed up as a Hasidic Jew.
Nasser, a maintenance worker at a yeshiva in the Belz neighborhood, asked his Haredi friends to help him avoid racially-motivated attacks by providing him with a prayer shawl and a large black skullcap. He was forced, however, to return to his home in Hebron at his family's request until the situation calmed down.
Nasser the Hasidic Jew
The Palestinian worker helps worshippers at the synagogue on Minchas Yitzhak Street with cleaning work, renovations and maintenance. On the backdrop of the recent wave of terror, which has been characterized by lone-wolf terrorists, he feared he would be harassed or arrested.
He decided that if he dressed up as a Haredi Jew and disguised his accent, he would be able to able to go on with his work. But the plan was unhelpful.
"The IDF imposed a siege on Palestinian areas, and my family was afraid that I would get hurt and asked me to come home," he said in a phone conversation this week. "I decided to take time off from work. I don’t know if I have a replacement, but I had to return home."
Before he left, his friends documented his disguise as evidence of the atmosphere of fear on the streets among Palestinians workers. According to Nasser, even before he decided to stay home, he was forced to repeatedly deal with roadblocks and delays on his way to work in Jerusalem.
