Israel Matzav

Is this how a civil war starts?

A reminder to all that I am in Boston and therefore posting will go a bit later today (and start again later on Saturday night).

I have often heard that the dispute with the Arabs is the best thing in the world for Israel, because it keeps us from having a civil war with each other. 

This is a video of a protester named Moshe (if you can't tell from the accent, he's Russian) at Thursday's Haredi demonstration in Jerusalem against the sudden blocking of yeshiva funding and the arrest of an AWOL yeshiva student.

Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.



It's not just the 'Haredi street' that speaks this way. Here's United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Asher.

Hareidi MK Yaakov Asher (United Torah Judaism) accused Finance Minister Yair Lapid of retroactively canceling the funding for all yeshivas this week to spark protests between hareidim and police as a political ploy: "he doesn't want us in the army, he wants hareidi violence on the streets. That gives him mandates."
...
MK Asher warned of a "long period of pushing the hareidim to the wall that will bring extremism. This is how the 'hilltop youth' phenomenon started when the right-wing felt pushed to the wall."

Unfortunately, Asher is likely correct. More here.  Here's the real 'threat' that Yair Lapid is fighting.

The future of the State of Israel lies with those who are committed to Jewish observance and tradition in some way that can be deemed significant. This certainly does not mean that all Israelis will be fully observant, orthodox, or hareidi in the foreseeable future; but there is no future for those with an exclusively secular ideology. Nearly one third of all first graders in Israel today are enrolled in Hareidi schools. Close to 60% of all first graders are enrolled in Hareidi, Hareidi Le’umi (Nationalist Hareidi), or Dati Le’umi (Religious Zionist) schools. It is routine for religious/hareidi families to have 6-10 children. It is rare to find a secular family in Israel with more than one or two. 

I didn't write that. More here. 

Sounds like someone is trying to get an early start on a civil war. And for those of you who are dati leumi/Modern Orthodox and think this doesn't affect you (except to the extent that it's about getting the Haredim into the army)... when they're 'done' with the Haredim, you're next.

Labels: Haredim, Israeli civil war, National Religious, Yair Lapid

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:54 PM