President Shimon Peres on Thursday morning, 23 Elul 5773, addressed the tensions with Syria at the beginning of his visit to the Jerusalem headquarters of the Israel police and said, “The situation in Syria is not a local incident but a crime against humanity and a breach of international law. As such the responsible world is coming together to respond. Syria has crossed a moral boundary.
“The entire world was witness to the horrific pictures of Syrian children who lay dead on the floor. President Obama spoke on behalf of the whole of humanity when he said this breach of international law; this mass murder could not go without an appropriate response. We must understand that the response is global, not local. We are seeing a serious coalition coming together, both militarily and diplomatically.
“Israel was not, and is not, involved in the Syrian fighting but if anyone tries to harm us we will respond with all our might. Israel has a strong army, modern and powerful and a more advanced defense system than ever before which protects our land, our skies and our citizens. The reports aimed at Israel are an attempt to create panic but Israel is too experienced to fall for false propaganda. We must remain united, respect the decisions of the government and act upon the instructions of the Home Front Command. We should all have faith in the IDF.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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10 Responses
“We should all have faith in the IDF”??????
We need tefillos for siyata dishmaya in this
precarious situation..No mention of this by Peres… just “koichi veoitzem yodi”
What about G-d mr Peres? What about Titanic mr Peres? At least America says in G-d we trust. What about you mr Peres?
Hashem doesn’t have a Blackberry or an iphone, but He is still my favorite contact.
He doesn’t have Facebook account, but He is still my best friend.
He doesn’t have Twitter account, but I follow Him nevertheless. He doesn’t have internet, but I am connected to Him.
And even though He has a massive communication system.
HE NEVER EVER PUTS ME ON HOLD!
In his entire speech, not once did he mention Hashem.
No, in the IDF we do NOT have faith especially that they don’t behave like Hashem wants them to and dropped all His commandments. We ONLY have faith in HASHEM! Peres himself is telling us and the world that Charedim have no business in such a G-dless IDF.
Maybe to some faith in G-d is “barur me-alav” and doesn’t need to be stated….
Just sayin’
Peres is a honest person not a two facer or a hipocrit,
so he can’t say in G-D he trust and a whole day anger G-D by doing everything not approved by G-D
Gosh! You guys are so critical. He’s not frum! Why would he mention G-d in a political speech? Maybe you and I would, but we’re frum! Instead of criticizing a Jewish person for no purpose (which is probably loshon hara right before Rosh HaShanah), maybe we should react with sympathy and try to bring the “not yet” frum closer to G-d.
#4 – You have hit on a key point which has always bothered me. Granted, the IDF is right now not an ideal place for a frum soldier. But the message the “Chraeidim” are sending is – Yes we live in E”Y and yes, we cannot live in E”Y without protection, but chas V’sholom us “Chareidim” shouldn’t be part of the IDF because its not the place for a Jew. Question: if all Israeli’s decided it was not proper for Jews to serve in the IDF, what would you do then? Why are you ok with Mechallilei Shabbos protecting your lives? There’s only one Torah with 613 Mitzvos. There isn’t a Chareidi Torah and Tzioni Torah. According to “Chareidi” reasoning there are 2 options 1. Join the IDF and work on being Mekarev your brothers and sisters as much as possible or 2. Leave E”Y. What right do we have to be ok with Mechallelai Mitzvos protecting us when we refuse to join for that very reason?
I am by no means saying that shtark bochurim should be leaving the Bais Medrash and joining the IDF but maybe we should refrain from copping the elitist attitude when there are nebach soldiers whoare going against the Torah while PROTECTING OUR BACKS. And please don’t say “Its our tefillos and learning protecting us” because while that is 100% true, no one , gedolim included will say that everyone should pull out of the IDF.
With so many frum commenters on YWN, it is not necessary for an Israeli public official to mention Hashem. And the State of Israel is a Jewish democratic state, and so it is up to its frum citizens to invoke Hashem.
And, more the point, Israeli public officials speak not only to Israelis but also to other world leaders. I think the Mr. Peres’s remarks will be helpful in getting the US and other world leaders to address the atrocities in Syria, which I expect would prevent the extension of those atrocities to neighboring states such as …, well …, Israel.