Jerusalem – Suspected of using threats and extortion against hareidi women to prevent them from running for office, Rabbi Mordechai Blau, is being investigated by the Israeli attorney general, after Hiddush, a liberal Jewish non-government organization demanded it.
Rabbi Mordechai Blau, head of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Guardians of Sanctity and Education group, stated Sunday night that, “Every woman who campaigns against the gedolei haTorah (Torah sages) of Israel will make sure her children will not attend hareidi education institutions, and no one will do business with her or work with her, and all of her descendants will be expelled from our schools,” reports Israel National News.
Blau also said his statements apply to the men who support women’s efforts to join hareidi Knesset parties.
“It is possible that this is the worst instance of bullying and intimidation we may have seen in the last few decades,” said Hiddush CEO Uri Regev.
Women in the hareidi community are stymied by both the ban on women’s political candidacy and the social stigma attached to women in public office. Some have faced threats against not only themselves, but also against their family members over holding public office roles.
In Sept. 2013, Chairwoman Racheli Ivenboim of the Meir Panim-Co’ah Latet food charities withdrew her city council campaign in Jerusalem after being threatened. Women cannot be elected to public positions in hareidi parties, but can run under a different ticket. In Ivenboim’s case, she ran under the religious-Zionist Jewish Home party, which was seen as a form of betrayal.