ABSTRACT
The rise of fundamentalist movements and the phenomenon of religious zealotry have been among the main characteristics of the past three decades all over the world, and they have a significant impact on contemporary society and culture. The zealots believe that only they possess the divine truth and therefore they are the ones who represent the will of God on earth. Violent activity by haredi extremists aims most prominently at those who violate their norms of sexual behavior. This is expressed mainly in verbal abuse, but sometimes also in physical violence, towards women in haredi neighborhoods who have breached the locally accepted code of modesty. Religious coercion and violence in the city find their expression in various forms, beginning with the exclusion and humiliation of women in the public arena, through vandalism and verbal violence, and ending in severe physical violence.
