‘They see naked women’: Haredi leaders urge boycott of Tiberias mall over bikini ads

Proposed boycott over immodest photos has led to backlash from northern city’s deputy mayor, in latest instance of a mall being at the center of a Haredi-secular clash

Haredi leaders in Tiberias are calling for a boycott of the city’s mall over large ads that show women wearing immodest clothing such as bikinis, the latest such controversy to erupt in a city with a growing ultra-Orthodox population.

That demand has led to backlash from the northern city’s deputy mayor, and has sparked a threat from secular residents of the city to stop patronizing the mall, called Big Fashion Danilof, if it caves to the Haredi leaders’ demands.

In a video that has circulated online, Leah Kook, wife of one of the city’s most prominent spiritual leaders, Rabbi Dov Kook, called the ads an insult to the city’s majority religious population.

The ultra-Orthodox population in Tiberias has increased to about 25 percent of the city in recent years, raising tensions over its character and way of life, according to the Walla outlet.

“They enter the mall, they see naked women as big as screens,” she said in a pained voice. She claimed that after speaking to a manager at the mall, nine of 12 such ads were taken down, but three remained, including one belonging to the clothing chain Castro.

Photos of the Castro store published in Hebrew media show a floor-to-ceiling ad displaying a woman wearing a bikini.

Kook called on residents to boycott the store.

“My loves, we’re boycotting them,” she said. “Don’t go into the mall.”

Ultra-Orthodox parties are part of the municipal coalition led by Mayor  Yossi Naba’a, who was elected in 2024 with their backing. A former mayor, Ron Cobi, who had run unsuccessfully to regain the position, had warned of the rising influence of the ultra-Orthodox over the city.

“Unless I’m elected, Tiberias will become the next Bnei Brak,” Cobi told The Times of Israel in 2023, referring to the heavily Haredi Tel Aviv suburb.

Following the call for a boycott, Deputy Mayor Aviv Yitzhak and another member of his party condemned the call and urged the public to continue visiting the mall.

“Especially these days, when business owners are struggling to survive after a prolonged period of war and we public officials are working to assist them, it is unacceptable to issue a statement that causes direct harm to the livelihoods of so many business owners and families,” their party said in a statement.

According to a Facebook page that carries local Tiberias news, secular residents of the city are threatening to boycott the mall if the ads are taken down.

This is not the first time Haredi and secular Israelis have clashed over a local mall. In the southern city of Arad earlier this year, a pair of Gur Hasidic businessmen bought the city’s mall, and there were claims that shop owners were pressured to take down pictures of women, and to have mannequins wear only modest clothing. The city government threatened to close down the mall over the new requirements.

Charlie Summers contributed to this story.