The prevailing sense among the ultra-Orthodox sector is that they are marked as a major target for attack in the current wave of violence. There’s good reason for them to feel that way, too. In an Oct. 11 press briefing, Acting Police Commissioner Bentzi Sau noted that many of the victims were ultra-Orthodox Jews or people in uniform. As if to highlight this point, a propaganda video that appeared recently on Palestinian social networks called explicitly for the murder of religious Jews. The clip shows two men, one ultra-Orthodox and the other national-religious, based on their outward appearance, walking in what looks like the alleyways of the Old City of Jerusalem. A young Arab stands off to the side, watching how they push young Palestinian children around with the utmost contempt. Finally the Arab ambushes them and stabs them to death.
The way Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox see it, they were targeted by terror even before the current escalation of violence. The most deadly attack of the past year, for example, took place in a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof, where four ultra-Orthodox worshippers and a policeman were killed.
