An ultra-orthodox Jewish sect trashed a Jerusalem ice cream parlour because they were disgusted by people licking cones in public believing it promotes promiscuity.
The owners of the Zisalek parlour in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood had put up posters asking people not to consume the snacks in public and installed separate entrances for men and women.
But religious zealots from the ultra strict Sikrikim sect did not believe the measures went far enough and broke in during the night to vandalise the premises.
Owner Guy Ammar said: 'They had a real ball with us.
'But we were not deterred. Residents here told us not to give up and business is going well now.'
The Sikrikim are named after a Jewish group which 2,000 years ago fought against Roman rulers and suspected Jewish collaborators.
They wear masks to hide their identity and strike mainly at night.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 8 percent of Israel's 7.7 million population. With an average of eight children per family, they are a fast-growing population.
Many live below the poverty line and tend keep to their own towns and neighbourhoods.
Mea Shearim area is small, less than half a square mile, and home to about 30,000 residents considered among the most tight-knit and reclusive of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Other stores in the neighbourhood, where men wear traditional black garb and women bare little but their face, have had their windows broken, locks glued and foul-smelling liquid smeared on walls.
Marlene Samuels, manager of the nearby Or Hachaim bookshop said: 'They also threw once a bag of excrement inside and smashed our windows three times.'
Marlene's shop has been attacked more than 10 times since it opened a year and a half ago, Samuels said. The latest assault was last week when one of the store's branches had its locks glued overnight.
The shop's owner met with the Sikrikim several times.
Although the store stocks only religious books, they include volumes published by Zionist organsiations while the Sikrikim believe a Jewish state can be established only with the coming of the Messiah.
Sikrikim attacks have also been reported at Beit Shemesh, a mixed secular and religious town with a growing ultra-Orthodox community, about half an hour's drive from Jerusalem. The latest target there has been a religious girls' school.
The Sikrikim who reside near the school object to the way the girls dress. Since the school year began in September they have regularly picketed outside shouting out at the students, most of them younger than 12, that they are promiscuous.
'They claim to be religious but what they do is a crime against God, against the Torah and against humanity,' said David Rotenberg, who works at Or Hachaim.
