Ransacking of Synagogues in Israel Hit : Herzog Calls Dispute of Secular, Religious Jews Disgrace to State

TEL AVIV — President Chaim Herzog today said the ransacking of synagogues by Israelis is akin to “domestic anti-Semitism” and called the dispute between secular and religious Israelis that sparked the acts a disgrace to the Jewish state.

Renewed concern over tensions between secular and ultra-Orthodox Israelis followed a weekend of violence in which vandals painted swastikas on Tel Aviv’s central synagogue and ripped up religious books and broke windows in a seminary.

In Petah Tikvah, a suburb of Tel Aviv, vandals painted death threats against the secular mayor on the town hall.

‘War Has Just Begun’

On a street in Bnei Brak, a religious suburb of Tel Aviv, a sign was painted that read: “Run over every ultra-Orthodox man--The war has just begun.”

The dispute between religious and secular Israelis is longstanding but erupted again recently over ultra-Orthodox objections to advertisements of women models wearing swimsuits and skimpy shorts. The ultra-Orthodox community says Jewish religious law forbids women to display their bodies.

In response to the ads, members of the ultra-Orthodox community have burned or vandalized more than 100 bus shelters that displayed them.

The anger of secular Israelis boiled over last week, and arsonists set fire to a synagogue and vowed to vandalize a prayer house for each damaged bus shelter. Since then, half a dozen religious institutions have been vandalized.

Herzog today described the incidents as “violent and ugly” and said on Israel Radio, “The violence on both sides is a disgrace to the state of Israel . . . tantamount to domestic anti-Semitism.”

Reconciliation Efforts

Prime Minister Shimon Peres held a series of emergency meetings last week to deal with the crisis. Speaking to his Labor Party on Sunday, Peres said, “We want an Israel in which there are both religious and secular citizens and in which neither side forces its views on the other.”

A group calling itself Gesher, which means “bridge” in Hebrew, circulated petitions in Jerusalem today calling for reconciliation between religious and secular Israelis.

Israel’s army radio announced that it will broadcast a 10-hour program Tuesday devoted to the question of coexistence between secular Israelis and ultra-Orthodox Jews.