Jerusalem cafe becomes flashpoint in growing haredi protests over Shabbat

Haredi protests continue for the sixth Shabbat outside Cafe Basimta in Jerusalem, which opened on Shabbat. Police deployed in force after demonstrators broke through barricades last week. The cafe, opened in late May, has become the central flashpoint in a struggle over the city's character, amid disputes over the light rail and haredi conscription. Clashes have escalated, including throwing a bag of feces and the arrest of a 15-year-old. Council member Laura Wharton says the cafe operates legally.

By mid-morning on Saturday, the alleys surrounding Cafe Basimta were filled with haredi Orthodox demonstrators protesting the cafe's decision to open on Shabbat. It was the sixth consecutive Shabbat that the small cafe off Agrippas Street had faced demonstrations, with no sign of change. Israeli police were out in full force after demonstrators broke through the barricades last weekend. Close to 100 restaurants, bars and coffee shops in Jerusalem open on Shabbat, according to Laura Wharton, a Jerusalem city council member from the Democrats party who founded Shabus, a cooperative that runs buses on Shabbat. Only one, Basimta, has drawn a crowd. Basimta, which opened at the end of May, is new, Wharton said, whereas the others have been open for decades. The cafe sits near what she called the undeclared border between the city's haredi neighborhoods and the rest of the city. The cafe has become the most visible front in a hot summer of protests and riots across Jerusalem, over a light rail line and extending forced army conscription to yeshiva students, both opposed by the Haredi community. For six years, hardline haredi demonstrators have fought construction through Bar-Ilan Street, breaking into work sites and pulling down fencing. The vandalism and delays have cost an estimated 400 million shekels. Nationally, 44% of Israeli Jews identify as secular and 16% as haredi, according to figures provided to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency by the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research. In Jerusalem, among the city's Jewish residents, 46% identify as haredi and 25% as religious-Zionist, while 13% identify as secular. Outside Cafe Basimta Saturday, demonstrators took turns screaming at each other in the alleys. The haredi teens yelled "One who desecrates the Sabbath, his sentence is death," a verse from Exodus. Secular Israelis shot back with chants, of which "enlist!" appeared to be the most popular. The confrontations have grown more aggressive since the protests began in early July. Before dawn on July 25, someone threw a bag of feces at the entrance, and on Thursday, Israel Police announced the arrest of a 15-year-old boy. Cafes and restaurants are granted an exemption from the city's prohibition on businesses opening on the Shabbat. Yohanan Weitzman, a Jerusalem city council member from the haredi Agudat Yisrael faction, told JTA that there was an unwritten status quo governing which businesses and cafes open in the city, which Basimta had violated. Wharton said a Supreme Court ruling exempts entertainment, food service and sports from the city's Shabbat closures, which is why three of Jerusalem's four cinemas and its municipal swimming pools operate on Saturday. Basimta, she said, is running legally.