Calls for Haifa deputy mayor to quit for saying ultra-Orthodox ‘rape minors’

A rabbinic group demanded Monday that deputy mayor of Haifa Lazar Kaplan resign after remarks surfaced in which he called ultra-Orthodox Jews “zombie zealots” and said they “raped minors” in the name of God.

Kaplan reportedly posted the comments several months ago on a Russian language social media forum, the religious-orientated Makor Rishon newspaper reported and said they were recently discovered by a right-wing activist.

“90 percent of secular people serve in the army,” wrote Kaplan, while the religious “gobble, drink and rape minors under the auspices of God.”

Kaplan, a member of  Haifa Beytenu party, the local branch of the secularist Yisrael Beytenu party, also wrote that while he does not deny the right to be religious,  people should differentiate between regular believers and Haredi “zombie zealots.”

Yisrael Beytenu, he wrote at the time, will not allows “zealots” to take control of the country.

Kaplan declined to comment on his remarks, the Makor Rishon report said, while the Yisrael Beytenu party, distanced itself from him.

“Mr Kaplan’s response was published in response to a post calling on voters to go back to Russia and was written by him without the knowledge or instruction of the party,” said Yisrael Beytenu which draws its voter base from immigrants from the former Soviet Union. “Although out of context, they are disgusting. Our response was given to Mr Kaplan accordingly.”

The Association of Community Rabbis, a rabbinic leadership group, called on Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to open an investigation into Kaplan and demanded that he be removed from his post, Channel 13 television news reported.

Association chairman Amichai Eliyahu wrote that Kaplan’s remarks “encourage hatred, incitement and cause large parts of the public to feel rejected.”

Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Liberman, a right-wing secularist who holds eight of the Knesset’s 120 seats, has positioned his party as a champion of secular rights. In addition to demanding greater separation between religion and state, Liberman has demanded the passing of a bill aimed at increasing service by ultra-Orthodox men in the army. Army service is compulsory for Jewish Israelis, and while many religious Israelis do serve the ultra-Orthodox community largely rejects being drafted and has historically enjoyed exemptions from national service

The issue is contentious among many secular Israelis who want the ultra-Orthodox to help shoulder the security burden of defending the country.

Last month Liberman was attacked from all across the political spectrum following a fiery speech in which he ruled out joining a government with either the “anti-Zionist” ultra-Orthodox parties or the “fifth column” Arab lawmakers.

He said the ultra-Orthodox parties were “increasingly anti-Zionist,” and linked them in this regard with the largely Arab Joint List party. And he implied that a prominent ultra-Orthodox sage was engaged in money laundering.

While Liberman has called Arabs “a fifth column” before, and drawn criticism for it, his attack on the ultra-Orthodox as “anti-Zionist” and part of an anti-Zionist alliance with Arab parties was new.

Responding to the speech, ultra-Orthodox lawmakers referred to the Yisrael Beytenu leader as “anti-Semitic” and a “czar,” and to his speech as a “war crime” and a “horror show.”

It was Liberman’s refusal after April elections to join a coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties unless the army draft bill be passed that was a key obstacle to the formation of a government. A second round of elections in September also failed to produce a ruling coalition or unity government leading to the Knesset being dissolved last week and unprecedented third elections being set for March 2.