IDEOLOGICALLY JUSTIFIED VIOLENCE AMONG ISRAEL’S HAREDI SOCIETY

Abstract In recent decades, the Israeli press occasionally reports on various sorts of violent acts taken by Haredi Jews and aimed at other Haredi individuals or groups. These acts range from slander, discrimination, threatening, and banning, to damaging private property, stoning, and even physical violence. Unlike regular crimes, the perpetrators of these acts of violence justify their actions for ideological and religious reasons, insisting they are only doing what is right in God’s or their rabbi’s eyes. This article reviews the history of ideologically justified violence in Jewish history in general and in Eretz Israel in particular. This review reveals that the rising number of such incidents, as well as their spreading to more Haredi groups, indicates that in Israel, particularly since the late twentieth century, Haredi society has adopted ideologically justified violence as a legitimate tool to enforce its social and religious norms.