The Fatal Consequences of Dangerous Disregard for Laws

And the charedi response

Yesterday, following the tragic deaths of two infants at an unlicensed daycare center, charedi MKs and pundits, along with Likud MKs and other supporters of Bibi’s government, blamed the “Leftist/Zionist” court for recently halting daycare subsidies to charedim in kollel, claiming that this “forced” charedim to resort to cheaper, unlicensed, dangerous daycare.

In fact, this daycare center had been running for thirty years. And it was just one of over a thousand unlicensed daycare centers in Israel, mostly charedi, that the State Comptroller had warned about four years ago. Charedim send their infants to such centers in large numbers because (A) they don’t care about “secular” laws, and (B) as a result of their self-created poverty, they need to cut corners to find the cheapest solutions.

What is the maximum permitted ratio of infants to adults in daycare? In the USA it varies by state, but usually one adult is required for every four infants. Israel is a little more lax, but still requiring one adult for every six infants, and with a maximum of four adults and 20 infants.

This illegal daycare center had three adults and over thirty infants.

According to a Hatzalah first responder, “there were children in closets, in strollers, everywhere, hidden on top of one another with blankets.” Initial medical examinations reported that the two babies who died succumbed to dehydration after being held in a closed room with a fan heater set very high, and that at least one of them had died a significant period of time before first responders arrived. In other words, due to the very large number of infants that the three adults had to take care of, nobody was paying attention.

So, how did the charedi community react to discovering the fatal consequences of widespread dangerous disregard for laws?

By engaging in widespread dangerous disregard for laws, of course!

The authorities wanted to perform autopsies to conclusively determine the cause of death. Autopsies are anathema in charedi society, and after an appeal by the parents, the court ruled that it would not take place. But that ruling only came late this afternoon. In the interim, thousands of extremist charedim spent last night and today causing chaos, property damage and attacking people around the country.

Here they have pushed a burning dumpster down the street:

Here they are attacking a car in Bnei Brak:

Here they push an old man down, and move boulders into the road:

And here they are attacking a bus in Beit Shemesh:

Here’s a smashed window next to a bus driver (is it any wonder that the Arab bus driver of two weeks ago panicked and fled?)

And here’s a guy who sat down in the street in front of a car, below the driver’s field of view, and it ran over him:

And here’s a wider view of the anarchy in Jerusalem:

All this is the result of decades of allowing a rapidly growing sector to secede from society and indulging them as they develop a culture of entitlement, lack of civic duty and lawlessness, in exchange for votes.

There are no easy ways to fix it now. But the most basic need is to get them out of the government - before they burn down the entire country.