The JTA moderators apparently decided not to publish my comments to this story featured on The Telegraph.  That’s their prerogative, of course.  As a blogger, however, it’s my prerogative to publish the remarks anyway. 

I assume they took exception to my remarks about “ultra-Orthodox criminality”, but how else do you describe it?  If these were Skinheads beating up Jews, we would sail into them (verbally) with guns blazing.  Just because they look like someone’s Zaide (or Santa Claus), however, they are apparently exempt from rough journalistic treatment.

I’m sorry, but there’s only one way to deal with this problem:  crack some heads, and throw some rabbinic ass into jail.

Without further ado, here are the offending comments:

The pain and suffering inflicted on the victims of these “modesty patrols” (in other countries they are referred to as Taliban) is shocking.

More obscene, but in a different way, is the damage being done to the image and substance of Judaism, as these things are supposedly being done in the name of religion.

Grave harm is also being done to the image and fabric of the State of Israel, which cannot continue to appear feeble and powerless in the face of this lawlessness.

The worst is that this phenomenon could easily have been nipped in the bud, and can still be brought under control with a little resoluteness from the forces of law and order in Israel.

The Israeli police need to set up a unit dedicated to combating ultra-Orthodox criminality, staffed by people who understand the sub-culture. Rewards need to be offered for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the assaults. The statements of the rabbis who appear to be provoking the attacks need to be examined, and criminal charges laid where incitement is suspected.

Public order policing needs to be rigorously applied to any gathering where the ultra-Orthodox are attempting to impose their mores on wider society and violate the law in the process. Where such gatherings do flout the law, they must be broken up forcefully, using whatever methods are appropriate for any illegal gathering. The law must also apply (and be seen to apply) to those who look like Zaide.

There needs to be a single authority responsible for law and order in the whole of Israel, and it needs to stamp its authority, even on those who believe they answer only to a higher authority.

Down the other road lies anarchy, chaos and the eventual dissolution of the state. “Not with a bang, but with a whimper.”

The writing on the wall - The Telegraph