Rabbi Metzger attacked in Shuafat

Object hurled at chief rabbi's car as he accidentally enters Palestinian refugee camp while travelling to settlement with personal driver, but without security guard. Metzger fails to inform security forces of incident

Akiva Novick |Published: 08.25.10 , 14:13

Israel's Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger last Thursday visited the West Bank settlement of Kochav Hashachar, east of Ramallah, in order to hand out award to outstanding students.

The rabbi was travelling with his personal driver and without a security guard as required by procedures.

As they were leaving Jerusalem, Metzger and his driver accidentally entered the Shuafat refugee camp, apparently due to the fact that the GPS device fails to distinguish between Israel and the Palestinian Authority territories.

The rabbi's driver said they had passed the Qalandiya checkpoint and reached the southern part of Ramallah.

During the drive, the two saw an object hurled at the car and heard a bang. They panicked, and only then realized that they had taken the wrong road and turned back.

Rabbi Metzger chose not to inform the Israel Defense Forces or the Shin Bet's VIP security unit, and an investigation was not launched into the incident.

Last week, Metzger escaped from another event after being chased by dozens of Neutrei Karta members at a bookstore in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim, where books are sold in English by a woman.

The men protested his visit to the store, encircled him and shouted, "Sheigetz" (non-Jewish boy in Yiddish), and "get out of here, you wicked man."

Even after the rabbi escaped into his car with the help of police officers dispatched to the areas, the haredim continued slamming on the door and booing him.