The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan issued a scathing condemnation on Tuesday after the Mothers at the Front protest group shared a video showing what appeared to be the ultra-Orthodox Gur Hasidic movement holding a lavish event as the country marked Memorial Day eve with solemn ceremonies for the fallen.

“They don’t enlist [in the army]. They don’t share the burden. And they don’t care about those who enlisted, fought, and fell to protect them as well,” Golan tweeted. “This contempt for mutual responsibility and the foundations of the state must end. We will put a stop to this celebration built on the backs of those who serve and at the expense of the entire public.”

Memorial Day, along with Holocaust Remembrance Day, are the two most somber days in the national calendar. A minute-long siren on Memorial Day eve brings much of the country to a standstill as people pay their respects.

Enlistment among the ultra-Orthodox community, also known as Haredim, is a subject of bitter contention in Israel. Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted due to broad exemptions afforded to the community. The Israel Defense Forces has repeatedly told lawmakers that it needs well over 10,000 more soldiers due to the strain of recent conflicts and other military challenges.

The Gur movement’s gathering in the central Israeli city of Ness Ziona, which was described by the Mothers at the Front as a fundraising event, was focused on selling homes to young Hasidic couples, according to an Instagram post by the Walla news site.

“It’s time to say it loud and clear: Whoever doesn’t wear a uniform, whoever........

© The Times of Israel