Haredim protest against the conscription law (photo: police spokesmen)/social networks
The panic in the ultra-Orthodox ranks has never been more real. Their death rises to the sky, as if we have reached the destruction of the third house. Their running around is sweatier and more frightened than ever. Not on the eve of the Six Day War, not at the end of the Yom Kippur War, not in any intifada. They have never been so stressed. What is it to them and these trifles? Even on October 7, which was more tangible and horrifying than all the horrors that preceded it, they weren't really scared. God's salvation in the blink of an eye. The suckers will mobilize, volunteer, and in the end they will win. But last week something happened. They are starting to realize that it is over. The apocalypse is here. The combo is sold out. We have reached the limit of the prank. All the rabbits have already been pulled out of the sleeve. The movie is over.
For many years I believed that "by force, it won't work". No more. It has to go. Under duress, or not under duress. And if it doesn't work, we'll drop it. Because you can't go on like this. This arrangement in Israel will have two classes, one serves, contributes, enlists, falls, is injured, pays a price and bears the burden, and the other is exempt from all of this but preferred in regards to payments, benefits and choppers, that's it. Just as it is unthinkable that a certain sector will be exempt from taxes, or exempt from compliance with the law, or exempt from seat belts. Israel is the land of impossible combinations and the ultra-Orthodox recruitment combine is the icing on the cake, but the time has come to gather with its ancestors. Ben-Gurion will be happy. He is the father of it.
Israel is the land of combines and the ultra-Orthodox recruiting combine is the icing on the cake. Haredim in BKOM/Niv Aharonson
In a sane country with a desire for life, a coalition of the Likud, Yesh Atid, the state camp, Israel Beytenu, religious Zionism, and the Labor Party would now form and immediately pass a basic law that would recruit the ultra-Orthodox and the Arabs of Israel - those for service in the IDF and those for civilian service. Those who do not enlist will not be taken to prison, because we do not have the privilege of keeping such a large crowd in a closed facility at the expense of the state. The sanction will be simple: they will not receive a single penny from the state, in any way. No social security, no health insurance (they will be charged a higher rate), no unemployment benefits , no child allowance, no income guarantee, no credit points and no benefits of any kind or a price for a settler/evader. Nothing.
This, and more: they will not have the right to vote in the Knesset elections. Yes, like that. One and for all. Israel has been in an official state of war since the founding of democracy A defender must defend herself. The right to determine the fate of the state, the identity of who will manage it and enact its laws, will be given only to those who bear the burden and share in the duties. Life in an independent democratic Jewish state is a great privilege. Israel is a one-time and unprecedented miracle that happened against all odds. Who Anyone who wants to gain this right, must know that it also has an obligation. Don't want? Don't have to.
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Those who do not enlist will not have the right to vote in the elections. Knesset of Israel/Official website, Noam Moshkowitz/Knesset Spokesperson
Unfortunately, that won't happen. Israel 2024 is not a "sane and life-loving country", but a hijacked country taken captive by a destabilized and corrupt leader, a sabotage angel with nuclear destructive capabilities who invests all his energy in an effort to break it down into elements and conflict between them. It seems to me that now even the ultra-Orthodox understand this. Not because of what Netanyahu is doing to the country, God forbid. Because of what Netanyahu is doing to them.
In recent days, the token fell on the head of the ultra-Orthodox, and broke it. Those who are exposed to what is happening in the rooms of the panicked courtyards, hear how desperate they are and how ready they are, suddenly, to get rid of Netanyahu who brought this trouble upon them. For whose benefit? Whoever comes, provided that they agree to some new combination that will allow them to continue their lives (with allowances, of course) without serving. According to them, the hatred for Netanyahu prevents the achievement of any compromise. If only a replacement will arise for him (the most popular name is Yuli Edelstein, but not only), we will hold a meeting and find a solution.
The most popular name to replace Netanyahu. MK Yuli Edelstein/Knesset Spokesperson, Noam Moskovitz/Dani Shem Tov, Knesset Spokesperson
Here is a random group of WhatsApps that have been sent in cyberspace between senior ultra-Orthodox businessmen in recent days: "I think we need to talk about the elephant in the room. Bibi. It's all because of him. If we don't catch ourselves and continue to be dragged after this bad man, then we will continue to cry."
Or: "Bibi is a small, narrow and miserable man. And everyone has a replacement, especially if it's from the Likud." And also: "Enough with this bubble. Enough. I know the government and the Knesset very well. I wrote the coalition agreement and sat with it a lot, especially around the formation of the government. Not one word of what is written there has been fulfilled. A word!!"
Further: "Listen carefully now, if the ultra-Orthodox come to anyone else and say to them, if you can protect the most important value for us yeshiva students and Torah students, we will go with you. To anyone else. Lapid. Gantz. Sa'ar." And also: "If you want to restore some respect now, you have to stand up and say now, Mr. Netanyahu, you have failed. We cannot be partners with those who cannot protect the values most sacred to us." And also: "Everyone who is ready should join and form an alternative government in this Knesset. He is the man, he is the elephant, he is the problem, and we, yes we, are dragging him. Time and time again."
"Bibi is a small, narrow and wretched man, everyone has a replacement," the ultra-Orthodox say in closed conversations. Prime Minister Netanyahu/Flash 90, Chaim Goldberg
This world is disgusting. I am not suspicious of Netanyahu's sympathy, but the ultra-Orthodox are the drug addicts who are now trying to take revenge on the one who provided them with the drugs all these years. And no, Netanyahu did not get them used to this drug. They came like this from home. Netanyahu only knew how to take advantage of this and provide them with the goods. After all, Netanyahu knows what is in the best interests of the country. He acted in the interest of the state as Minister of Finance in the early 2000s and saved Israel's economy (when he brutally cut child benefits), he acted in the interest of the state when he established a government free of ultra-Orthodox in 2013, but he stopped acting in the interest of the state when it became clear to him that he obliged the ultra-Orthodox to his side unconditionally, to complete his revenge campaign against the country and its institutions and his escape from the threat of judgment. Now, he's out of stock. The spring is dry. So they take revenge on him.
This movie is over. All the postponements have already been rejected, all the red lines have been crossed, the deadlines have passed and the delays have been delayed. We have reached the moment of truth. What makes this moment so explosive is the belated recognition that recruiting ultra-Orthodox is no longer a whim or a privilege, but a necessity. October 7 demonstrated this necessity to us. In criminal law there is a defense (from criminal liability) called the "necessity defense". You are exempt from liability if you act against an act or a move that poses a tangible danger of serious harm to your life, your dignity, your body or your property, etc. Gentlemen, we are forced to mobilize the ultra-Orthodox because there is a clear and immediate danger to the future of the Zionist enterprise. And if they are not grades? So they will not take part in the Zionist enterprise or at least will not enjoy its fruits.
He acted in the best interest of the country when he established a government free of ultra-Orthodox. Netanyahu and Lieberman after the publication of the election results of 2013/Reuven Castro
The funniest thing is that the ultra-Orthodox "greats of the generation" claim that the main motivation for preventing conscription is not the danger of military service, but the danger that the innocent yeshiva boys will be exposed to the outside world through military service and lose their faith. Say, dear adults, are you serious? After all, you have been memorizing to us for decades that it is faith that saves the people of Israel from all its dangers and destroys its enemies. After all, without this belief, without studying the Torah day and night, we have no existence, we have no security, we have no livelihood and we have no life. So suddenly it becomes clear that this immense faith and this great study of the Gemara, all of these can be undermined, fade away and become extinct only because of the olive uniforms of the Israel Defense Forces and the possibility of being exposed to the amazing information that there are also people in the world who do not believe? Say, great men of Israel, do you believe in yourselves? The faith that survived 3000 years of riots, disasters and plagues, will be denied precisely here, in Zion, because of military service?
We have fallen into a ridiculous trap: either all these years you have been scalding the kettle about the Torah of Israel that protects the people of Israel, or you are now inventing an excuse to continue to evade. There is no third option. After all, there are also ultra-Orthodox people abroad and there, miraculously, they work, live, mingle in the outside society and sometimes find themselves in places where there are women (mercifully for Zelan). And yet, they remain ultra-Orthodox.
The ultra-Orthodox "greats of the generation" claim that yeshiva students will lose their faith in military service. The Admor resides/official website, Lerer Markets, in the ultra-orthodox rooms
The coming weeks are crucial. The ultra-Orthodox will behave like drug addicts in a crisis. There will be a lot of running around, but at the end, every Israeli patriot should hope that the seeds for a new order will be sown. for equality in burden. to an Israeli partnership. You can't cheat anymore. We can't be mixed up anymore. We have reached the end of the combine. The hundreds of fictitious yeshivahs, where supposedly 50 guys are registered but there are only 10 (and they are also in Avnikim), all these fictitious yeshivah heads who drive salvaged cars and own a Judaica house worth hundreds of thousands of shekels, all of this will end. This industry will close. The sooner everyone involved realizes this, the easier the rehab process will be for everyone.
There is no more America
Meanwhile, the protest is renewed. Also because of the recruitment issue, but not only. It started slowly, but it is gaining momentum and the real test will be on Sunday, the 31st of the month, in a huge tent city that will be erected in front of the Knesset and hang out there until Wednesday, when the Knesset session is supposed to end and the elected officials are supposed to go on vacation. The logic is simple: if the elected officials can go on vacation, then the citizens can renew the protest. If you claim there is a war, then cancel the break.
Beyond the recess, the current government loses all rein and its various elements become a real threat to the future of the country. The tone is set, as usual, by the angel of destruction and the main chaos generator. The crisis he created in front of the Americans this week is, alone, enough pretense to remove him in disgrace and remove him from any public office. The fact that this man allowed himself to issue an ultimatum to the President of the United States and "punish" the Americans by not sending an urgent security mission to Washington, because they dared not (yet) veto any decision in the Security Council, should be enough to send the man to an urgent review.
He allowed himself to "punish" the Americans by not sending an urgent security mission to Washington. Netanyahu and Sullivan/Official website, Amos Ben Gershom/L.A.M
Let's assume that the Americans were wrong in not casting that veto (it's not true, but I'm flowing). Let's ignore the fact that the Security Council's decision is not binding but declarative. Let's ignore the fact that the decision includes the two conditions set by the Americans, which are intertwined: a ceasefire until the end of Ramadan and the immediate release of all the abductees. Let's just agree that Biden turned off our faucet and didn't deliver the goods. Happens. his right
So what? Are we in a position to threaten him? Sanction him? Humiliate him in public? Get into a confrontation with him in front of the whole world? And if he continues to bite his tongue, what will we do? Will we stop military aid? Will we immediately cancel the $14 billion in special aid that we are supposed to transfer to him? Will we bring back the aircraft carriers? Shall we immediately stop the endless air train that replenishes our arsenal? Will we stop giving the Americans a political, military and nuclear umbrella wherever they turn?
Benjamin Netanyahu lost all restraint and crossed all the limits of lawlessness. Israel no longer has America and there is no alternative to what the United States is doing for us. She doesn't have to do it. Americans don't owe us anything. They support us because of "shared values" and because of the fact that we are a democracy, but the values are not so common anymore (just look at the coalition) and democracy is not something either. They can turn their backs on us at any given moment and throw us to hell. The truth is, at the current rate of things, it will happen in our days.
An equation with many disappearances
So instead of gritting his teeth and trying to straighten the line with the Americans, Netanyahu burns down the club. And while it continues to warn us into a security and political abyss, the current disturbed government does not abandon its efforts to dismantle Israel from its scientific, technological, academic and moral superiority. They are now drying up the Volcanic Institute, a leading institute in the entire field of food technology and agricultural research. They harm the academy (a comprehensive investigation on the harm to science was published this week in "Haaretz"). They harm the chief scientist's budgets, investment in high-tech and growth engines. They do all this while continuing to target the funds for Orit Struck's "national missions".
Hear a story about the Hebrew University: there is a magnificent mathematics department there. She is not only the best in Israel, she is one of the best and most respected in the world. There are international experts in their field and a variety of research groups. Thus, for example, the field of "dynamics and ergodic theory", one of the hottest fields in mathematics today, developed by professors Hillel Furstenberg and Benji Weiss, two world-renowned mathematicians, both from Hebrew. But they are both very old now.
A situation has arisen in which the disintegration begins in the best department in the world. The Hebrew University/Official website, The Hebrew University.
Even today, the group of dynamics and ergodic Torah in Hebrew is the best in the world and its members include world-renowned mathematicians, headed by the jewel in the crown, Prof. Elon Lindenstrauss. Next to him there are at least 5 other famous professors of such dimensions. Today, Lindenstrauss is considered one of the greatest living mathematicians in the world, he is the only Israeli in history to win the Fields Medal (the Nobel of Mathematics). He is Israeli, Zionist, relatively young, served in the IDF (graduated from Talpiot, but what).
Well, Lindenstrauss is leaving. He received an offer that cannot be refused from Princeton University. It's bad, but it shouldn't be a colossal disaster. But it is. Because not only Lindenstrauss is leaving. Many professors in the department are considering leaving. Some of them have received magical offers. And what is happening here at our place does not help anyone to stay.
Several people from the university contacted me with this alarming information. They are talking about the atmosphere in Israel, about the government's harassment to the academy, on the reduction of research funds, on the coup d'état, on what is happening to Israel's image in the world and what the world thinks of the Israeli academy. All these, in addition to the poor salaries (the proposal from Princeton is supposed to double the salary of every professor enormously, apart from the almost unlimited research funds ), create a situation where the disintegration begins and the end is not seen.
Since taking office, the "minister of education" has been trying with all his might to destroy the academy. Yoav Kish/image processing, Yonatan Zindel/Flash 90
I have a list of at least 7 prominent mathematics professors and researchers who are considering leaving, and that's only from the Hebrew University. Add to that the fact that researchers and professors from around the world hardly ever come to conferences in Israel, the fact that there are hardly any student and lecturer exchanges because of what is happening to Israel's image, and you will have a disaster. Some call it an "earthquake". It is about drying up Israel's academic future in general, and Israel's supremacy and excellence in the field of mathematics, which is the most important and prominent in the age of artificial, cyber and digital intelligence.
Professors leaving, also results in students leaving. This is a domino effect that, if it gains momentum, will be impossible to stop. When you look at who is supposed to be the one who will try to be the boy with the finger in the dam, you understand the magnitude of the trouble. This is about a lackey by the name of Yoav Kish who, since assuming the position of "Minister of Education", is trying with all his might to destroy education, the academy, the enlightenment, the enlightenment and everything that he is instructed to destroy, and this is even before we talked about the Peres Israel farce.
Admitted that this is not good news. The president of the Hebrew University, Asher Cohen/Official website, Hadas Proosh / Flash90
The Hebrew University, together with the Weizmann Institute, the Technion, the Vulcani Institute and the other universities (Tel'a, Haifa, Bar-Ilan, BS) are the jewel in the crown of Israeli scientific and academic excellence. That's where our geniuses grow, that's where the Nobel Prizes come from, that's where the great inventions, the wonderful developments, the wonders that Israeli industry and technology know how to bring to the world (Iron Dome, Mobile, Disk On Key, Wise, the Arrow, etc., etc.) come from there. If we lose it, we lose ourselves to know.
I spoke this week with Prof. Asher Cohen, president of the Hebrew University. One of the most impressive leaders in our academic world. He tried to calm me down. Yes, Lindenstrauss is leaving, he admitted, and this is not good news, but he will continue to teach Hebrew in a reduced format and if he returns, he will only return to it. According to Prof. Cohen, the offer that Lindenstrauss received from Princeton is indeed an offer that cannot be refused. This is the best mathematical research institute in the world, the conditions there are unlike anything, neither is the salary, you are all dedicated to research and there is almost no one who will refuse such offers.
It is impossible to refuse an offer from the best mathematical research institute in the world. Princeton University/ShutterStock
According to Prof. Cohen, the fact that many of the Hebrew University's researchers receive tempting offers from abroad indicates the strength of the university and its quality. According to him, there are indeed many offers and there are people who are considering them, but currently the university is fighting for its scientists and apart from Lindenstrauss there may be one departure Another one, and that's all. "We still have a very large number of renowned researchers and professors who are here, and excellent students, and a world-renowned institution, and although we have difficult challenges and substantial difficulties, we are in control of the situation and fighting for our future" How I hope he is right, because not only the Hebrew University is fighting for its future, we here are also fighting for our future.
From the driver to the cockpit
My uncle, Matthew (Matthew) Caspit, was buried about three weeks ago in Ramat Hasharon. My father's younger brother, Isaac. Mati was 90 years old when he died. He was the first Air Force pilot to come from Tiberias. In April of last year, I brought in these pages an interview with him about the situation. I remembered that I have someone in my family who is also a pilot, also an Ashkenazi (the original surname was Silberman), and probably also a "privilege", as the opponents of the coup d'état were called at the time.
It is not because of that protest that I pay tribute to my uncle Mati here. He was not part of it.
Seven days and plots, he was already in a situation where he is looking from the outside at what is happening. Hurts the situation, but does not affect it. After retiring from active duty, at the end of many years as a fighter pilot in the Air Force (he ended up being a lieutenant colonel, commander of the Sde Dov base), and decades as a senior pilot at El Al, he sat down to write an autobiographical book about his life. To leave a document for the family. The name of the book is "Mahhaydar to the Cockpit" .
The first pilot to arrive from Tiberias. An Air Force plane/Reuters
Mati's parents, my grandparents, Avigdor and Tova Zilberman, were ultra-Orthodox. Grandfather was a Boyan Hasidic, grandmother a Karlin Hasidic. Fourth generation in Tiberias (grandmother Msafet). Raised six children in very difficult conditions in the former Tiberias. three girls and three boys. All six children came out with a question. each in turn. Not because of religion. Because of the country. She hasn't gotten up yet and there is a need to get up and do something. The parents, my grandparents, did not object and accepted the verdict.
Israel, the eldest brother. After him Isaac, my father. Followed by Mati, my uncle. Each one in turn got up one day and instead of going to "Haydar", where the rigid teacher was waiting for him with the ruler hitting the fingers, the Gemara and the "language of the Koidash", they went to the Tachchmoni school. Each of them, in turn, asked a Takhmoni director to be admitted to this educational institution. In our language, they just wanted to learn core. I'm talking to you about the first third of the last century, yes? A period in which dozens of the people of Tiberias perished in a huge flood that brought down rocks and landslides on the poor city by the lake. A time when almost no one was sure that he would be able to feed his family tomorrow morning as well.
Raised six children in very difficult conditions in the former Tiberias. The Sea of Galilee Travels Tiberias/Official website, Oshri Weizman
My grandparents, as mentioned, received the decision to leave at the request of all their children with sadness, but with resignation. Then the war of liberation broke out. Israel, the eldest son, was killed in the last battle of the "Givati" brigade on the southern front
in the War of Liberation. His body was hanging on the fence of an Egyptian outpost, riddled with rounds from a "Vickers" machine gun. So, according to eyewitnesses. The body was never recovered. My father located a skull on the hill that looked like his brother's (according to one broken tooth in the center of the mouth) and so he was buried in Nachat Yitzhak, so that the family would have a place to stand on Memorial Day.
My father also fought. In the Jewish Brigade, in the British Army, then in the Palmach. He also participated in the Battle of Harel and finished his military service as an officer with the rank of lieutenant, and he was the one who brought all the doctrine of 1958-1988 drills, parades and drills, from the British Army to the young IDF.
Matti, the third and youngest son, was a 14-year-old boy when his older brother Israel was killed. He was playing with children near the house in Tiberias when a mysterious messenger arrived, got out of a taxi, and asked if "is there anyone named Silberman here?". Mati, a little boy playing soccer with a rag ball near the house, said yes. The messenger gave him a telegram in which it was written that Israel Silberman had been declared missing on the southern front, and left. This is how the family learned about his fall.
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The fall of the eldest son broke up the family. My grandfather, Avigdor, never recovered. His height swam and he walked around at night looking for his son. My grandmother, Tova, stepped into his shoes and managed the house and the daily struggle for survival. When Matti's enlistment date came, in 1951, he told his mother, my grandmother, that he was going to a flight mechanic course, but actually went to a pilot course. When she found out, she accepted the verdict. as usual.
Mati was one of the first fighter pilots of the Young Air Force. He flew meteors, hurricanes, super misters. He was the commander of the Air Force delegation in Uganda (and a personal friend of Idi Amin), the commander of Sade Dov. Then he had a long and glorious career at El Al.
One day, not long after he finished the course and became a fighter pilot, he got on a plane and flew home. to Tiberias. Above his hometown he circled a little, until he recognized the place where the "Hyder" used to be where he studied. He dived towards it, descended to minimum altitude, pulled the rudders and took off again with full engine power, up into the sky. This symbolic act, as he wrote in his book, illustrated his decision to leave the closed and ascetic world of the ascetic in favor of the other, open world of a new life and a war of independence for the sake of Israel's communalism in its land and the establishment of an independent state.
Mati was the commander of the Air Force delegation in Uganda and commander of Sde Dov. Sde Dov Airport, 1939/Official website, Zoltan Kluger's photo collection
Two qualities stood out in Dodi Mati above all others: modesty and integrity. He was honest as a level, and modest to the point of asceticism. He came out with a question when he was a child and remained a pious secularist and an ardent Zionist until his last day. Just like my father, just like the late Israel, just like their three sisters who built a magnificent home in Israel: the late Asnat, the late Sara and Galila, the last sister and my beloved aunt, Tabdla.
What am I trying to tell you here? It's simple: the people of Israel were very lucky that each of the six sisters and brothers of the Silberman family decided to stand up and take action. To get out of the Haydar ghetto and the Yeshiva in Tiberias, to study Livah, to enlist in the IDF and to fight for the establishment of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, the State of Israel. Along with them, the other 600,000 Jews who lived in Zion at the time did this, as well as all the leaders and pioneers of Zionism who arose even before them, in Europe And in other places. This route, like the name of the book written by Mati, from Haydar to Cockpit, is the route of our redemption here in Zion.
We must not go back from the cockpit to Hyder, we need a leadership that will make it clear and take care of it. Likud/Flash 90 faction meeting, Eric Marmor
Unfortunately, what we see in the current era, is the opposite trajectory: from the cockpit to Hyder. Growing publics are not served. You don't learn core. They close themselves in the Lord of their mothers and believe that God's salvation is in the blink of an eye. That this country only exists thanks to the yeshiva students and their prayers.
They despise history, which repeats itself. For the simple fact that whenever the Jews do not have a protective force, they are destroyed, murdered, slaughtered or slaughtered. With all due respect to the fact that we are the "chosen people", not always the one who chose us is available to save us. As history has proven countless times in the past, we must ensure our existence on our own. Jews, as Ariel Sharon used to say, should be able to defend themselves, on their own. They have no other way. Therefore, we must not return from the cockpit to Haider.
We need leadership to make it clear and take care of it. We need to clear it up and take care of it ourselves. There won't be another chance.
More on the same topic:
religious
The conscription law
Benjamin Netanyahu
IDF
United States
Joe Biden
The Hebrew University
Air Force