Haredim protested against the desecration of the Sabbath at the 2019 Eurovision contest at several locations in Jerusalem on Saturday. At one location, the police arrested a suspect for assaulting a policeman and disturbing the peace.
It was reported on Kan news that in one incident, a taxi driver who was traveling in the area got out of his car and beat the haredim who blocked his way.
In a letter published on Friday, Rabbis Dov Lior, Chaim Steiner and Tzvi Tau protested against Eurovision in general, and specifically against the mass desecration of Shabbat (Sabbath) as a result of it. "We recently learned that Eurovision, which is currently taking place as a public event in the State of Israel, apart from the serious breach of modesty it entails, is also, unfortunately, a mass desecration of Shabbat."
"This matter is shocking and deeply hurtful and completely contradicts the principles of our existence as a Jewish state," the rabbis continued. "Since its establishment, the State of Israel has taken upon itself to preserve the sanctity of the Sabbath and the Jewish character in its public space. We cannot accept a situation in which the most elementary values of our people are trampled on all sides."
"Such phenomena also seriously affect the very foundations of our existence. The secret of the Jewish people lies in its purity, its holiness and its loyalty to its eternal G-dly values. Even when we were in exile we knew how necessary these values were to maintain our existence, and especially during this period in which we've been privileged to gather in our land and build the State of Israel."