We Jews have a long, and storied, history of engaging with the world. Yet somewhere along the line, these haredim just lost their way.

The banks and post offices in Israel have been spitting in the faces of much of the public over the years with large posters and Video promos of men dressed as women to advertise one even shows a man making sexual advances to a man dressed as a religous women in the post office;s latest promos A very sick society here

GOORNICHT ELFIN !!! LOL You have to be real twisted to replace a beautiful woman with an elf!!

Oh please. How does a gnome lend any credibility to a financial institution?

The fact that they are putting up the atzmaut advertisements in Bnai Brak is pretty dumb... how many people in BB actually agree with the ideology of zionism, let alone making it a holiday... I certainly don't.. (No, i am not an extremist neturei karta or even satmar, i'm jsut a regular old frum guy ideologically opposed to the state and zionism, i do however wish it the best success)

These people are seriously deranged. God made women attractive so that we can all benefit from their beauty. Mind you they don't look so good in those neighbourhoods with all that ridiculous clothing and head covering they insist on wearing for who knows what reason. Religious Christian women don't behave in such a misguided manner and they still believe in God. If those idiots can't control themselves then that's their problem.

The haredim position on showing pictures of women is not foreign to us as extreme as it is. I understand that they don't want men staring at women other than their wives to which I respect them for. Most women want their husbands to beleive that they are more beautiful than other women. That is one of the reasons why religious people have an issue of porn. Do I beleive that a picture featuring Alma Zak on a billboard will cause men to stray? In most cases, no.Yes self control is important. We must have inhibition and not act on our impulses. A lot of rapists and sex offenders blame their victims for dressing provocatively. We may not agree with the haredi lifestyle but they are not coercing us to comform to their standards outside of their communities. Why does it bother you all so much what they do? You don't live in a haredi environment so does it really matter that much to you? Just leave them to their extreme ways and have a good laugh from it. Its rather humorious how they replaced Alma Zak with an adorable little elf. Stop complaining about it.

You do realize that had we not won the war of 1948, Bnei Brak and all the haredi towns would have not existed. Your ilk wouldn't have been able to live their stringent religious lifestyles in Israel nor would they have been able to establish their Yeshivas and learn Torah at their will. They certainly wouldn't have had a state to financially rely on to support their kollel lifestyle while driving the economy into bankruptcy from it. While I only recognize Yom Ha'atmaut as a national holiday only, I don't approve of the haredims attitude towards Israeli national holidays altogether. I find them rather to be ungratful and selfish for not recognizing the State that is funding them.Furthermore, your kind has the hutzpah for not paying their respects for our brave soldiers who put their lives in front lines to assure the existence of a Jewish state. If you chose not to make a yom tov out of it, that's fine. The least your haredi brethren could do is show some grattitude and contribute to the state rather than having a dismissive attitude towards it.That is my problem I have with the haredi populace in Israel.

Bank Hapoalim is following the #1 rule in advertising - TARGET YOUR MARKET!!! Woman or gnome, who cares - depending on the neighborhood, the woman could even be in a burka - who cares - it's marketing, not pressure, and they did it right. Get over the haredi bashing.

about this article i can say that well thats a good thing to replace that woman with a gnome... we have to respect woman's body always..

but continue to lose their regular customers. ...Does the bank think that non-Haredi customers don't notice this nonsense, or that it has no effect on their image.

Bank Hapoalim respects all its customers, regardless of their religion, race and gender, height, size, hat, or what they're made of. What b*llsh*t.

This has nothing to do with respect! This is misogynist!! Deep down inside they hate women and cannot control their sexual impulses!

So a basically goyish figure is okay? As a religious person I find it terribly offensive and disturbing. Certainly not something I want to look at.

And all they removed was Alma?

I have seen advertisements inArabic even using the colors of their so called flag. They are all over the country, to target the ever growing Arab market. Check out some of the Klalit, Maccabi etc. in town. they are a business. Their loyalty is to money.