Former Major-General Elazar Stern was sharply critical of HaBayit HaYehudi's leader Naftali Bennett, noting that the
role of a leader is to inspire people to want to move in the correct
direction and to lead them there, not to exploit crass populist
sentiments that are destructive for the country and for society in the
long run.
Elazar Stern
Former IDF Major General Sees Danger In Zionist Orthodox Community’s Growing Extremism
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Elazar Stern is a former IDF major-general who is currently a candidate on the Knesset list of Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah political party. He is also a prominent member of Israel’s Zionist Orthodox community. Stern reportedly believes that community has shifted too far to the right, becoming much too extreme for its own good – and for the country’s.
Writing on his Facebook page, Stern expressed dismay over the popularity of the Zionist Orthodox HaBayit HaYehudi political party and its leader Naftali Bennett. Bennett backed IDF soldiers refusing orders to evacuate settlements – an unthinkable position a decade ago. Yet polls show that support for Bennett is growing.
“30% of the citizens of the state and 50% of the voters of HaBayit HaYehudi support refusing orders. This is most troublesome,” Stern, who worries that the increasing extremism of Orthodoxy will distance Jews from Judaism and threaten Israel’s democracy, reportedly wrote.
Stern was sharply critical of Bennett and his party, noting that the role of a leader is to inspire people to want to move in the correct direction and to lead them there, not to exploit crass populist sentiments that are destructive for the country and for society in the long run.