For months, the haredi officer charged with integrating religious soldiers into the army has endured an unending barrage of harassment and defamation from radical elements within the community opposed to service in the IDF.
Hitherto, most of the harassment consisted of verbal assaults or obnoxious phone calls or messages left on the officer’s answering machine.
On Wednesday, however, the efforts to force the officer to either abandon his position or leave the haredi community ratcheted up dramatically.
Overnight, vandals attempted to break into the officer’s house, located in the predominantly haredi city of Bnei Brak.
His wife and children discovered the frame of the front door had been damaged, and that the lock of the front door had been glued, rendering it inoperable.
They later discovered black paint splashed on the floor of the apartment building near the entrance of their home.
The officer’s wife says the background of the incident was immediate obvious.
“When we went out of the house and I saw the black [paint] mark, I quickly understood that this was a criminal incident, and it was clear what the nature of it was,” she told BeHadrei Haredim.
Despite the attack on their home, the family remains determined not to cave in to the pressure.
“Just as the ring [of vandals] grows stronger and more aggressive, it also makes us more determined and shows that my husband’s way is right,” said the officer’s wife.
“It saddens me that there are haredi people who behave like this; it’s a terrible embarrassment and a desecration of God’s name. It will only strengthen the holy work my husband is doing.”
“These people are mentally disturbed, not haredim; they have no fear of God.”