Soldier from video of "pleading child" speaks first time • "push came to shove"

S., a soldier who served in the Netzach Yehudah battalion, and is now studying for army service, is the one who filmed the haredi boy and asked him to apologize - after he called him Harda"k.

The video became a viral hit on the network and caused a great stir.

"Excuse me," the boy begs for his life. The soldier asks: "Why forgive you?" The child answers: "Enough, enough. I confess."

The soldier asked, "What did you shout now? Answer me." The boy replies, "Not just me, my friends too." Again the soldier asks: "What did you shout?" And the child replies: "Hardakim…".

At this stage the soldier demands of the child to apologize: "Say, I'm sorry", and the child repeats: "I apologize." The soldier continues: "I love Harda"kim", and the boy repeats again for him. The soldier again asks the boy to say: "I'm mad about them," and the frightened child again repeats his words.

The soldier concludes by saying: "Good. Have a great night. This is the last time I see you say such a thing. "

In a conversation with Behadrey Haredim S. says that he does not regret what he did: "To eradicate this phenomenon, we need to wake up and not be silent."

However, he says: "If I knew the video would be published in every place, I would not do it again. I simply wanted the video to serve as an alarm signal for the current situation, where children and adults offend haredi soldiers."

"The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon in one of the neighborhoods of Bnei Barak," he says. "I came back home from the army base, and a group of children began to yell at me: 'Harda"kim out, and other abusive slogans. It hurt me very much and I felt that if I continue on, oblivious and do nothing, the next time children may throw stones at me. I chased one kid riding a bicycle, he dropped them and sat down on the sidewalk. I took the cell to record what was happening, I thought it will serve a warning to anyone who sees it. "

I didn't break the law

Many browsers on social networks who reacted angrily to S's conduct, did not know that this is the third time he had to deal with attacks by haredi adults and children, simply because he was a soldier. The last time was when S went onto Bus 45 on the way to Tel Aviv and during the trip a haredi boy shouted at him, in front of all the passengers: "There's a stench of a Harda"k."

"It was hard, but I restrained myself," he says.

On Wednesday, when a group of children attacked S., he could not hold back: "I felt that enough is enough," he says, "I told myself I had to do something against this phenomenon to try to eradicate it. So that another child will think twice if to offend a soldier who gives his soul to earn a living and protect the people of Israel, so that this child or his parents or educators - can sit comfortably. "

S. does not spare criticism of thinkers and leaders of the Harda"kim campaign: "I would hope they did not think it would lead to hatred between haredim. A situation where a soldier would have to approach a child on the street. and ask him to ask his forgiveness because he was hurt."

S. never imagined that the video will become viral within hours and provoke angry reactions. And although he claims that he did not break the law or the IDF's instructions, he refuses to reveal details about himself: "I sent the video to some friends and could not believe it would receive such a large circulation. My friends' reactions were similar to those on the net, some of them said, 'This is the duty of the hour', and others were angry at me.

"I hope the next time the child or others will not act out of peer pressure and think that they might harm a soldier who did them nothing bad."

He adds: "I have no problem to meet with the child and hug him."

The video circulated on the Web:

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!