Under the hat and tzitzit: illegal residents who disguise themselves as Haredim to move around Israel without being exposed

Police warn of a rise in the number of illegal residents disguising themselves as Haredim to evade detection. An intelligence officer reveals the methods: suits, hats, tzitzit, and glued-on wigs. Three recent incidents illustrate the phenomenon, and police are preparing for the possibility that the disguise could be used to carry out attacks.

Police identify an increase in the number of illegal residents (shabahim) disguising themselves as Haredim to evade detection in Israel. The article describes three recent incidents: an illegal resident caught in Haredi clothing, a resident of Afula from the Arab sector arrested on suspicion of car theft while wearing tzitzit, and a suspect in the Gila neighborhood of Jerusalem who turned out to be a resident of the territories. Chief Inspector Pini Cohen, an intelligence officer in the Zion District, explains that the disguises range from improvised to elaborate, and are difficult to identify from a distance. Police are preparing for the possibility that the disguise could be used to carry out attacks, and have conducted training for officers on the characteristics of Haredi society.

Under the hat and tzitzit: illegal residents who disguise themselves as Haredim to move around Israel without being exposed