Haredis riot in Jerusalem, Abu Kabir

[jewscout]

Haredis riot in Jerusalem, Abu Kabir
​

Nine haredi men were arrested on Tuesday as they attempted to break into the Forensics Insititute at Abu Kabir.

The incident was the result of some 100 people rioting against the planned autopsy of a religious woman from northern Israel.

Several hundred more haredim participated in demonstrations of solidarity in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood.

The rioters pelted police with rocks and set fire to numerous dumpsters along the central thoroughfare in the area, closing the street off to traffic and choking the surroundings with smoke. Police forces arrived at the scene, though no injuries immediately reported.

Last week, a crowd of haredim in the Mekor Baruch neighborhood in Jerusalem attacked police who arrived at an apartment of a man who had passed away at his home. The rioters apparently suspected that the police would order an autopsy. They began hurling stones, and lightly wounded three police officers.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1138622516247&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull​

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Several hundred more haredim participated in demonstrations of solidarity in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood.

Anyone familiar with Mea Shearim would not be surprised. No one in his right mind would drive a car through that neighborhood on Shabbat.

 

[jewscout]

Anyone familiar with Mea Shearim would not be surprised. No one in his right mind would drive a car through that neighborhood on Shabbat.

i'm not Jay,
could you expound on this a bit more for me?

 

[Avi]

That neighborhood is 100% Hasidic. They get real pissed off when other less observant Jews break mitzvot in their neighborhood or anywhere they are at (a.k.a. a bus)

 

[Lion of Yehuda]

Simply astonishing. I have been living in Israel for almost eight years now, and was not aware that one had to be cautious or concerned about having an autopsy performed. This seems to me something that people outside Israel needed to be more concerned about given the various laws that sometimes conflict with Jewish law. Every time I read about a funeral here, it seems that they happen rather quickly, so an autopsy would only be done if there were some doubt as to the cause of death that the treating physician could not ascertain. It seems to me that they are rarely done here, rather than routinely done. Most people have medical records and a family doctor, so they are under the care of a physician, and in most cases, a cause of death is known.

Breaking into a laboratory seems like the wrong way to go about preventing an autopsy, since there must be other pathways to settle the matter peacefully.

I am troubled by the impulse to violently act out at the drop of a hat, and causing more damage than is either warranted or necessary. I don't know for sure if that is the case here, since we are not in possession of all the details.

Another point that I would like to make is that there seem to be people within Mea Shearim who are running around trying to light trash cans on fire and start demonstrations as agents provacateurs.

 

[Levite]

I confess, I am confused.

While it's certainly true that autopsies and such are asur if unnecessary, I had really thought most modern authorities agreed that when they might be deemed necessary to rule out or to discover evidence of a crime, they were permitted because of the various requirements that justice be done. And when they were deemed necessary for reasons of potential public health matters, they were permitted because of pikuach nefesh.

What halakhic basis do these Haredim have for such behavior to prevent an autopsy in a case where the cause of death was unknown, and therefore an autopsy is indicated to rule out crime or potential public health hazards?

 

[Rakhel]

They're Haredi? They seem to think that is reason enough