UTJ MK Meir Porush spoke with media outlets, including Kikar H’Shabbat, from his protest tent outside the office of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara at the Justice Ministry complex in Jerusalem.
“I also have rights in this country,” Porush began. “My great-grandfather came here before anyone even dreamed of coming here—before Herzl or anyone else. He came here to learn Torah, so we, the Chareidi community, have rights.”
“A civil war is developing here between the Chareidim and the chilonim,” he warned. “That’s what’s going to happen here. We are talking about tens of thousands of people who believe that the Torah is what gives them life. I don’t see any country capable of dealing with hundreds of thousands of citizens who believe in something and the state tries to thwart them. The state will be thrown into chaos, and no one will be able to live here. You can’t go to war with about a million and a quarter Chareidim who want to live here in a certain way—it’s not feasible.”
“It will develop and grow and no one will be able to stop it. Maybe something can still be done now, but later? It will be too late. You will convey a message to everyone: start to be afraid. No one will be responsible for anything. When every father has to fear that his child will be harmed and they’ll try to take him—no one can predict what will happen here. You saw that the Kaplanists (leftists) knew how to create chaos when they wanted to. We also can create chaos.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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10 Responses
Once the oilam is fighting why not join the IDF?
Unfortunately you have a large group of once known to be observant Jews that now speak openly against the gedolei hador and proudly advocate for closing down learning in order to expose the boys to a secular military where they will see things they have never seen before that will deeply affect their spirituality forever, and the people who are okay with that are not ones we are to listen to. It’s a war for righteousness and purity of the Soul. I know plenty of teenagers who went to that Army and some of them came back to Shabbos and some didn’t, and the female soldiers were some of the worst influences possible on them. It’s not worth one soul to risk because anyone who Advocates that it’s worth risking someone’s eternity doesn’t actually believe in the soul or the next world, because nothing is worth jeopardizing that for anyone
Spoken like a mature, sensible talmid chacham.
Is this what a gemara kop comes up with?
Given that only one side is armed, there isn’t much reason to suspect a civil war. A campaign of disobedience might work. The problem is most (apparently) of the Hareidim are of the pro-zionist orientation (i.e., supporters or rabbanim who support the “haredi” political parties and desire and accept government funding) – and apparently learned that when you accept government funding, you become subject to whatever the government wants from you. It should also be noted that there is circumstantial evidence that most the hareidim who accept government funding, are also “hawks” (actually, “chicken hawks” to use an American phrase) who favor a hard line opposing the Palestinians (and the secular Israelis who believe that by “breaking” the influence of the rabbanim will turn hareidim into moderate secularists will probably be shocked when they move their loyalty from hareidi parties in the Kenesset, to ultra-nationalists, and somewhat racist, parties who demand expulsion of all Palestinians, include those that support the Israelis, and often serve in the IDF.
The anti-zionist hareidim are in a better position to oppose the zionists, since they have been doing so for almost a century, do not accept government funding, and tend to be “doves”. From an international law perspective, they are legitimate conscientious objectors who oppose military service for religious reasons (e.g. the three oaths), as opposed to being students who prefer to be studying rather than fighting. However it would be a major earthquake in the frum community since the anti-zionists hareidim have not been actively in involved in Eretz Yisrael politics since De Haan was shot (a century ago), and have not been in a leadership position in yishuv of Eretz Yisrael since the period of Ottomans.
He is 100% correct.
The Chareidim need to protest the same way the secular leftists protested until 2023, when their protests illegally shut down the streets successfully torpedoed the judicial reform.
Everyone needs to learn from those leftist protesters how to successfully win in the State of Israel. Shut down the streets for months. The State will then give up.
Israeli government support for Yeshivos and Kollelim is not as much as people here think it is. They also made the ‘mistake’ (from their perspective) of reducing support for Yeshivos BEFORE this round of the conflict reached the boiling point, leaving them with less leverage. For those who asked, in Israel (as in any other country with socialized medicine, such as Canada and most of Europe), subsidized medical insurance (and קל וחומר medical care itself) cannot legally be sanctioned based on the behavior or lack thereof of the beneficiary. So what will they do? Shoot us?
akuperma – I don’t think he was referring to a shooting war with lethal weapons…
Chareidi ‘Amiti?’ – No, I don’t think someone in his position should run off his mouth that way, but his message is correct. The Supreme Court has bitten off more than they can chew. The Government doesn’t want the headache, and the IDF certainly doesn’t want thousands of soldiers ‘not with the program’. If the battle descends to street level, it won’t be pretty at all, but it won’t change anything.
long before civil war breaks out, the majority will dramatically reduce government funding on which the hareidi population depends. this war and it’s impact on the reservist community is the straw that broke the camel’s back. if hareidim disregard this basic truism, their suffering will be yet more severe.
This is unfortunate when Jews demonstrate to show that they can only fight other Jews, but not the sonei yisroel.