Recent from talks
Sikrikim
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Sikrikim
The Sikrikim (Hebrew: סיקריקים) is a Haredi Jewish organization based in the Israeli Haredi neighbourhoods Meah Shearim in Jerusalem and in Ramat Beit Shemesh. The anti-Zionist group is thought to have roughly 100 activist members. The Sikrikim gained international attention for acts of violence they committed against Orthodox Jewish institutions and individuals who would not comply with their demands.
The name Sikrikim comes from sicarii, a group of Jewish Zealots who attacked Romans and their Jewish sympathizers during the Roman occupation of Judea using concealed daggers, sicae in Latin.
The Sikrikim began to appear in Haredi neighborhoods in 2005. In Meah Shearim they are called the "Mafia of Mea Shearim" by some residents of the neighborhood. They are considered to be loosely affiliated with the Neturei Karta.
On 31 December 2011, several hundred Haredim demonstrated in Jerusalem's Kikar HaShabbat (Sabbath Square), protesting against what they call "the exclusion of Haredim" from society. They specifically accused the "secular media" of bias in their coverage of both violent and non-violent acts of protest by Haredim with regard to allegedly immodestly clad women in public. They made use of Holocaust imagery, with some of the protesters wearing yellow badges, while others, including children, dressed in concentration camp uniforms, claiming by way of analogy that they are being persecuted in Israel by the secular majority. At the same time, the protesters expressed their solidarity with Shmuel Weissfish, a leading Sikrikim activist sentenced to two-years imprisonment for rioting, extortion, assault and grievous bodily harm, whose sentence was slated to begin on 1 January 2012. The use of Holocaust symbols at the demonstration made headlines in the international media, and was condemned by Israeli politicians.
In September 2011, the Religious Zionist Orot Banot Girls School opened in Ramat Bet Shemesh. Many Haredim opposed the school's location and position on religion. Groups of Haredi men believed to be Sikrikim regularly stood outside the school on school days and taunted the students, throwing eggs and rocks at them while claiming that the girls were immodestly dressed. The incidents attracted wide attention in Israel and became an international news story after an Israeli television channel reported about harassments against one of the girls.
In October 2011, the Sikrikim vandalised a store selling ice cream in a Haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem. The store had set up signs asking men and women to be seated separately, and not to eat in public. The Sikrikim asserted that licking ice-cream cones was "immodest". They broke in one night and vandalised the store.
The Or HaChaim Bookstore in Meah Shearim, or "Manny's" as it is known in the neighborhood, was targeted in a series of vandalism incidents in which the Sikrikim took credit via posters hung outside the store. The posters opposed the bookstore's selling of "Zionist" material. The store's windows were smashed several times, and members of the group put glue in the store's locks and dumped bags of human excrement inside the store.
The Or HaChaim Center belongs to a chain of stores partly owned by Yaakov Bibla and Yaakov Litzman, both Gerrer Hasidim, with whom the Sikrikim have an ongoing rivalry in Jerusalem. Gerrer Hasidim from the Batei Warsaw neighborhood near Meah Shearim reported widespread harassment that had almost escalated into a street war, with people from Ger attacking Sikrikim out of vengeance. The underlying issue seemed to be the large involvement and support that the Ger give to the state and government of Israel.
Hub AI
Sikrikim AI simulator
(@Sikrikim_simulator)
Sikrikim
The Sikrikim (Hebrew: סיקריקים) is a Haredi Jewish organization based in the Israeli Haredi neighbourhoods Meah Shearim in Jerusalem and in Ramat Beit Shemesh. The anti-Zionist group is thought to have roughly 100 activist members. The Sikrikim gained international attention for acts of violence they committed against Orthodox Jewish institutions and individuals who would not comply with their demands.
The name Sikrikim comes from sicarii, a group of Jewish Zealots who attacked Romans and their Jewish sympathizers during the Roman occupation of Judea using concealed daggers, sicae in Latin.
The Sikrikim began to appear in Haredi neighborhoods in 2005. In Meah Shearim they are called the "Mafia of Mea Shearim" by some residents of the neighborhood. They are considered to be loosely affiliated with the Neturei Karta.
On 31 December 2011, several hundred Haredim demonstrated in Jerusalem's Kikar HaShabbat (Sabbath Square), protesting against what they call "the exclusion of Haredim" from society. They specifically accused the "secular media" of bias in their coverage of both violent and non-violent acts of protest by Haredim with regard to allegedly immodestly clad women in public. They made use of Holocaust imagery, with some of the protesters wearing yellow badges, while others, including children, dressed in concentration camp uniforms, claiming by way of analogy that they are being persecuted in Israel by the secular majority. At the same time, the protesters expressed their solidarity with Shmuel Weissfish, a leading Sikrikim activist sentenced to two-years imprisonment for rioting, extortion, assault and grievous bodily harm, whose sentence was slated to begin on 1 January 2012. The use of Holocaust symbols at the demonstration made headlines in the international media, and was condemned by Israeli politicians.
In September 2011, the Religious Zionist Orot Banot Girls School opened in Ramat Bet Shemesh. Many Haredim opposed the school's location and position on religion. Groups of Haredi men believed to be Sikrikim regularly stood outside the school on school days and taunted the students, throwing eggs and rocks at them while claiming that the girls were immodestly dressed. The incidents attracted wide attention in Israel and became an international news story after an Israeli television channel reported about harassments against one of the girls.
In October 2011, the Sikrikim vandalised a store selling ice cream in a Haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem. The store had set up signs asking men and women to be seated separately, and not to eat in public. The Sikrikim asserted that licking ice-cream cones was "immodest". They broke in one night and vandalised the store.
The Or HaChaim Bookstore in Meah Shearim, or "Manny's" as it is known in the neighborhood, was targeted in a series of vandalism incidents in which the Sikrikim took credit via posters hung outside the store. The posters opposed the bookstore's selling of "Zionist" material. The store's windows were smashed several times, and members of the group put glue in the store's locks and dumped bags of human excrement inside the store.
The Or HaChaim Center belongs to a chain of stores partly owned by Yaakov Bibla and Yaakov Litzman, both Gerrer Hasidim, with whom the Sikrikim have an ongoing rivalry in Jerusalem. Gerrer Hasidim from the Batei Warsaw neighborhood near Meah Shearim reported widespread harassment that had almost escalated into a street war, with people from Ger attacking Sikrikim out of vengeance. The underlying issue seemed to be the large involvement and support that the Ger give to the state and government of Israel.