"I'm an observant Jew and I think we're playing with fire. When [the
governing coalition] didn't harm the Torah, there was quiet, also
security quiet. Syria was a faraway country. There was quiet. Israel's
credit rating rose. We were in an excellent economic situation. They
started harming the Torah [and] Syria got closer to us. Tishreen
missiles are now pointed at Tel Aviv. I believe in this with full faith.
There are thousands, hundreds of thousands, and maybe millions like me
who believe this. They harmed the Torah and so Israel's credit rating is
plummeting. Nothing has happened to the Israeli economy in the
meantime, but the Torah was harmed."
Haredi MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni
Ashkenazi Haredim Blame Yair Lapid, Haredi Draft, For Syrian Missile Threat
Shmarya Rosenberg • Failedmessiah.com
In the 48 hours before the Peri Committee passed Israel’s new draft law out of committee this morning, Ashkenazi MKs stepped up their attacks on Finance Minister Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid Party, the driver behind the new draft law, Israel Hayom reported.
"I'm an observant Jew and I think we're playing with fire. When [the governing coalition] didn't harm the Torah, there was quiet, also security quiet. Syria was a faraway country. There was quiet. Israel's credit rating rose. We were in an excellent economic situation. They started harming the Torah [and] Syria got closer to us. Tishreen missiles are now pointed at Tel Aviv. I believe in this with full faith. There are thousands, hundreds of thousands, and maybe millions like me who believe this. They harmed the Torah and so Israel's credit rating is plummeting. Nothing has happened to the Israeli economy in the meantime, but the Torah was harmed,” MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni of the Ashkenazi haredi United Torah Judaism Party said Monday.
In Knesset, Gafni attacked Yesh Atid's vow to compel haredi schools to teach Israel’s core curriculum.
"Forget about educating us,” Gafni said.
United Torah Judaism’s chairman, MK Rabbi Yakov Litzman, also attacked Lapid earlier this week.
"I can only assume that the finance minister feels that he has lost the public's support. All of his voters have left him and he can see that in his polls, so he is looking for a way out [of the government] so he doesn’t have to follow through on the [budget] cuts he is inflicting on the public,” Litzman said.
A third United Torah Judaism MK, Rabbi Yisrael Eichler, called Lapid and his fellow Yesh Atid MKs “commissars of secular culture.
"There are two wars going on in Israel: The first, against the Arabs, stems from security reasons, and the second is a cultural one, aimed against the Torah and the Jewish lifestyle. Anyone who is truly concerned about Israel's security knows that only soldiers who are fit for battle should be drafted, subject to security officials' discretion, not the commissars of secular culture.…[the military draft] is a burden for the military and it eats up billions [of shekels] of the defense budget, by wasting it on soldiers who contribute nothing to the country's security,” Eichler – who has been agitating for an all-professional army, even suggesting that Israel hire foreign mercenaries to defend it rather than draft haredim and others who would prefer not to serve – said.
A fourth United Torah Judaism MK, Rabbi Yaakov Asher, blamed Lapid for using haredim as public punching bags to deflect attention from the tax hikes he instituted.
"We have been waiting to see what will remain from the finance minister's act, and like in any good play, the public will remember the actor. Selling the public illusions began with the budget and has now found its way to the Peri [military draft] committee, but it won't work, mind you. Those who wish to study the Torah will continue to do so. [Lapid’s Yesh Atid party] is only trying to make the public forget about the budget debacle," Asher said.
After the bill was successfully passed out of committee for cabinet and Knesset approval, Litzman sharpened his rhetoric against the proposed bill and broadened his attack to include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who has been trying desperately to appease his haredi allies and block any bill that penalizes haredim in any way for dodging the draft, which would essentially make any haredi draft meaningless.
Even so, Litzman lashed out at Netanyahu after Netanyahu tried but failed to do what haredi leaders wanted done.
Litzman called the committee’s recommendations for drafting haredim, “a disgrace to the State of Israel – and of course they will not be implemented because they are populist and unrealistic.
“…Israel was victorious throughout its history in its battles against the enemies of religion. Nor in the future will a situation arise in which someone wishing to study Torah in Israel should find himself in jail. Netanyahu will go down in infamy for lending support to the prosecutors of Torah,” Litzman said.