'Don't Erase Us:' Hundreds of Women Demonstrate Against Haredim in Bnei Brak

Hundreds of left-wing women activists marched in protest in the largely haredi city of Bnei Brak Thursday evening, August 24, against what they called the "erasure of women" due to haredi pressure and influence.

Women's organizations that announced the march sent out a message that said: "They want to throw us into the back seat of the bus, they demand that our daughters cover up, they fired all the women who were CEOs of government offices, they want us only to be anxious mothers to serving soldiers."

The left-wing activist organization noted that they concurrently initiated a women's solidarity conference in Beni Brak. More than 100 ultra-Orthodox, secular, and Arab women attended.

A group of well-known rabbis in Bnei Brak issued a joint call to their followers not to go to the locations of the demonstration, where confrontations could occur. In their letter, the rabbis stated that the purpose of the demonstration was to oppose "the Torah and commandment-observant public, and against the preservation of modesty and holiness."

"We address this to the entire community, we should not be dragged into a confrontation with them at all. It is the responsibility of each and every one of us not to approach their places of gathering, not to respond to them positively or negatively, and not to be drawn to go near them, and certainly not to argue with them and, God forbid, cause the name of Heaven to be profaned," the rabbis warned. (INN / VFI News)