Complaint at police against inciting illustration

The front page of the magazine "F" which shows an immodestly dressed girl, kicking a Hareidi man who is sitting on a bus, to the point of bleeding, is continuing to evoke an outrage.

As a result of the article in Behadrey Hareidim, a complaint was submitted on Sunday to the Jerusalem police against the magazine, on suspicion of incitement. The complaint was submitted by the Association of the Right of the Public to Know, which activates systematic control on the different forms of media. According to the association, the illustration incites for racism and encourages violence against Hareidi people.

Ziv Maor, deputy executive of the association explained to Behadrey Haredim: "Although this is a short-lived and marginal magazine, which doesn't have too much of an exposure, we decided after much deliberation to turn to the police when we understood that this an affront to the Hareidi public. We understand that by our actual approach, we increase the exposure of the magazine, but we hope this will be beneficial".

According to him, "I am very hopeful that by means of the media, the police will not see fitting to close the file for lack of public interest, and therefore I will also take advantage of this opportunity to ask of whoever was affronted by this illustration, to step up and submit a complaint against its editors to the police, since the incitement in this illustration is real, and I, for example, as a person who wears a yarmulke in Jerusalem, fear to walk about Jerusalem after such a message".

In response, Leo Liberman, editor of F magazine, said in a talk with Behadrey Haredim, "We have no drop of hatred against any public - Hareidi, secular or Arab.
"We understand that the front page is not simple, and we can understand those who were affronted by it. But at the same time we apologize ahead for all the things we have not yet done or published, for the reason that it could very well be that there will be those who will be affronted by them.

"To say we were wrong, this is a mistake, because it could very well be that this front page symbolizes violence, but no one said violence is a good thing. The goal of art is to open the question, and leave it that way, to leave it up to every one of us to interpret things like he understands them".

Liberman declares that in the next magazine there will be something relating to this matter, "It will be relating in an appeasing way, but I emphasize that we will continue to act and will try to do things in the best way".

The method of work at the magazine, explains Liberman, is done in such a way that the illustrator gets a topic, like in this case where he got the topic of art of war, Kong Fu, and the goal of the illustrator is to take it to his personal angle".

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!