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Last update - 14:41 27/06/2008
Why did Haredim force girls to cover up at a Jerusalem ceremony?
By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Jerusalem, Chords Bridge 

From the standpoint of Jerusalem's non-Haredi residents, the business of the ski caps and cloaks - girls forced to cover up before dancing at the ceremony Wednesday to innaugurate the Chords Bridge - is yet another stage in the city's ongoing fall into the hands of ultra-Orthodox extremists. But as far as the Haredim are concerned, this affair was merely the opening salvo in the mayoral campaign.

This is an internal confrontation between those seeking to become the Haredi candidate in the November elections, led by Mayor Uri Lupolianski (Degel Hatorah), and his deputy, Yehoshua Pollack. Pollack, the right-hand man of MK Meir Porush of the Shlomei Emunim faction in the Agudat Yisrael Party, is waging a dual battle against Degel Hatorah and certain figures in his own party, primarily Agudat Yisrael leader MK Yaakov Litzman. The latter told Haaretz this week, "Pollack is not worthy of being a candidate."

A holy war, even if aimed against 12-year-old dancing girls, seemed a golden opportunity for Shlomei Emunim to gain some Haredi street cred. The ski-cap affair began with the dress rehearsal on Monday, at the entrance to Jerusalem. Haredim from neighboring Givat Shaul watched the show, thereby discovering that "prostitutes" were supposed to appear on stage. They turned to municipal officials and to the mobile news service Hakol Haharedi, and shouted on the air about the "brazenness" and the "terrible harlotry" threatening the city.
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The direct culprit, they claimed, is Lupolianski. One Jerusalemite screamed on air that the ultra-Orthodox Lupolianski "sits with prostitutes" and "wants to desecrate Jerusalem at any price" and turn it into "Sodom."

On Tuesday evening, Pollack announced on Hakol Haharedi that he had forced the ceremony's organizers to censor the show. "I'm positive the business is clean," Pollack told the Haredi listening public. "I assure you that if I see even the slightest problem, I, by the power vested in me, will remove them from the stage." Pollack also noted that the ceremony was not intended for Haredim, but rather "for the general public."

Lupolianski was elected five years ago under an agreement between the Haredi-Lithuanian Degel Hatorah and the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael: Hasidim voted for Lupolianski in 2003 in return for the Lithuanians supporting an Agudat Yisrael candidate in 2008. Lupolianski nonetheless hopes to contend the next election, but Agudat Yisrael has made it clear it will not back down.

Shlomei Emunim is confident it will field the next mayor, but Pollack's path to the mayor's office is still a long one, and it includes Agudat Yisrael's party machine as well as Degel Hatorah, which has yet to affirm that it will honor its agreement with Agudat Yisrael.

Meanwhile, Degel Hatorah is accusing Shlomei Emunim of exploiting a minor Haredi grievance over the Chords Bridge ceremony to paint itself as the Haredi guardian of the walls of Jerusalem.

Pollack refutes those allegations: "We got dozens of calls after the dress rehearsal. I was threatened that Givat Shaul's residents would demonstrate across from the ceremony. That's all we needed, for the ceremony to wind up being a disgrace, and especially when the Eda Haredit is accusing us of supporting the gay pride parade. Hakol Haharedi riled up the atmosphere against the mayor, and I took command. To secular people I'm the Taliban, and Lupolianski is the enlightened one. Degel Hatorah should be grateful for my involvement."

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      1.   Can`t say enough 06:19  |  Big Tex 27/06/08
      2.   Let`s turn Jerusalem into Qom 07:59  |  Mike 27/06/08
      3.   At least they looked they were in costumes instead of workout clo 08:25  |  ecr 27/06/08
      4.   The Taliban have landed 08:27  |  Fussion 27/06/08
      5.   The beginning of the end 08:33  |  Don 27/06/08
      6.   Modest priggishness 08:48  |  Ulf 27/06/08
      7.   Send them to Afghanistan where they belong 08:58  |  SJ 27/06/08
      8.   Modest Costumes 08:59  |  RS 27/06/08
      9.   the objections to haredim-political 09:32  |  A Bored Jew 27/06/08
      10.   All the seculars bark then do not vote 09:33  |  Duh 27/06/08
      11.   post your opinion but do not vote 09:33  |  Call a spade a spade 27/06/08
      12.   jerusalem no place for striptease. 09:34  |  Joanna 27/06/08
      13.   To all the voyeurs -go elsewere 09:34  |  Jennie 27/06/08
      14.   Stop striptease in schools 09:35  |  Olga 27/06/08
      15.   Dances that insult women 09:36  |  Jewwess 27/06/08
      16.   Only men in favor 09:36  |  feminist 27/06/08
      17.   The solution to this issue for Haredims and Muslims 10:24  |  Jew- and Bookburner 27/06/08
      18.   I am looking forward 10:57  |  Axel 27/06/08
      19.   Dance Costumes 12:07  |  Linda Baharier 27/06/08
      20.   Who Cares? 12:50  |  JordanisPalestine 27/06/08
      21.   The Talibanisation of Jerusalem 13:00  |  Chris Linthwaite 27/06/08
      22.   We already have one Sin City... 13:29  |  Dave 27/06/08
      23.   Secular israelis should work for atheist european immigration 14:15  |  Atheist 27/06/08
      24.   # 8 RS 14:46  |  Axel 27/06/08
      25.   The Haredi are destroying the Jewish religion 14:53  |  Sidney 27/06/08
      26.   DIDN`T KING DAVID GET HALF NAKED 15:02  |  Petra 27/06/08
      27.   To #25 Sidney - The Numbers refute your argument. 15:17  |  Harry 27/06/08
      28.   Atheist 16:21  |  marbpl 27/06/08
      29.   #27 Harry, 17% are orthodox or more 16:54  |  Sidney 27/06/08
      30.   the director of the dance group did a mistake 17:08  |  flor 27/06/08
      31.   Jerusalem=Mecca? 17:09  |  Danny Negeddat 27/06/08
      32.   To Axel 17:24  |  Mahona 27/06/08
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      34.   the Haredi response 17:57  |  yehezkel 27/06/08
      35.   #25 18:15  |  David in US 27/06/08
      36.   #5 Surely you are joking 18:45  |  Sidney 27/06/08
      37.   Ettinger, please refer to it as DAVID`S HARP, eom. 19:15  |  d.dor 27/06/08
      38.   THE JERUSALEM COVER-UP 19:53  |  FUN 27/06/08
      39.   Jerusalem 19:57  |  Eliahu 27/06/08
      40.   #34 : The Heredi Response 20:07  |  Yoel 27/06/08
      41.   Solution 21:17  |  H 27/06/08
      42.   I`ll tell you why 21:21  |  Donald 27/06/08
      43.   The irony is that Haredim will lead Israel to cede Jerusalem 21:34  |  McQueen 27/06/08
      44.   Why? 21:52  |  Mark Lincoln 27/06/08
      45.   Shameful act that do not fit Israel 21:55  |  David Israel 27/06/08
      46.   Dave #22 - You sound like the Islamists 22:03  |  David Israel 27/06/08
      47.   Do you mean which mental disorder? 22:43  |  Ulf 27/06/08
      48.   Sharif Hafez - yes but 23:12  |  David Israel 27/06/08
      49.   To David Israel - #48 01:04  |  Adam 28/06/08
      50.   Certin peaple should be ASHAMED!!!!!!!! 01:56  |  ellie 28/06/08
      51.   Jewwess,(sic), @# 15 05:12  |  Absolute Israel 28/06/08
      52.   Chris Linthwaite @# 21 05:14  |  Absolute Israel 28/06/08
      53.   Sidney @# 25 05:18  |  Absolute Israel 28/06/08
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      55.   Adam - if you start comparing you lose 06:28  |  David Israel 28/06/08
      56.   It`s Called MODESTY 06:57  |  Baruch Gold 28/06/08
      57.   Haredim making a statement 07:37  |  Absolute Israel 28/06/08
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      59.   Haredi destroy US cities, so why not Jerusalem? 09:08  |  candida 28/06/08
      60.   Haredim in Jerusalem 09:40  |  Jan van Mil 28/06/08
      61.   What`s wrong with modest costumes? 10:20  |  Maureen Ann 28/06/08
      62.   Why the head covering? 10:43  |  . 28/06/08
      63.   Haredis have more energy to reproduce 12:03  |  chelemer 28/06/08
      64.   Hell`s Angels without motorcycles 12:29  |  chelemer 28/06/08
      65.   # 51 absolute 12:52  |  Axel 28/06/08
      66.   Send them to Afghanistan where they belong 14:01  |  SJ 28/06/08
      67.   # 34 yehezkel -to your question YES 14:06  |  SJ 28/06/08
      68.   Jeruselem 14:08  |  yona schear 28/06/08
      69.   #5 Don 14:57  |  MR 28/06/08
      70.   Axel from Germany 15:05  |  MR 28/06/08
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      80.   #18 Axel -SECOND TRY 17:40  |  MR 28/06/08
      81.   #5 Don - SECOND TRY 17:44  |  MR 28/06/08
      82.   Mark Lincolm 18:11  |  Jane 28/06/08
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      90.   #18 Axel from Germany - THIRD TRY 21:54  |  MR 28/06/08
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      92.   Sidney your stats are as outdated as your ideas 23:39  |  A thinking Jew 28/06/08
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      100.   shepherd`s dates, how revealing 00:24  |  Jew-girl 29/06/08
      101.   Big tex and cowcake 00:28  |  Another Jew 29/06/08
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      106.   ulf admits he wants five year olds. 12:19  |  A thinking Jew 29/06/08
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