"When our rabbis feel that there is an attempt to change our way of life
they will call for a religious war. I’ve told [the Zionist Orthodox]
HaBayit HaYehudi Party Knesset members this in the past: ’Don't try and
test us.’ It will be a very, very harsh battle. That is my task in these
times, to send that message out to everyone. If there will be a law
here that we see as forcing us to enlist [in the military], the rabbis
will call for a religious war."
MK Rabbi Meir Porush
Haredi MK Threatens “Religious War” Over Military Draft
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro visited haredi Member of Knesset Rabbi Meir Porush of the Untied Torah Judaism Party in his home a few days ago.
During the meeting, Shapiro reportedly asked Porush about the attitude of the haredi community toward the government’s decision to draft haredi yeshiva students, Arutz Sheva reported.
Israel’s government has always drafted Modern Orthodox yeshiva students and non-Orthodox Israeli Jews, but haredi yeshiva students have until recently been exempt from military service. That exemption was ruled illegal by Israel’s High Court of Justice early last year. Since then, haredim and their political allies – including Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – have been working to block or stall any draft of haredi yeshiva students, causing social strife in a country where every other Jew is required by law to serve in the military, often in war zones.
Shapiro told Porush that US policy is not to interfere with internal Israeli political issues. However, the US needs Israel to be strong militarily and societally and is therefore very interested in how this issue is handled.
Porush responded by threatening Shapiro.
"When our rabbis feel that there is an attempt to change our way of life they will call for a religious war. I’ve told [the Zionist Orthodox] HaBayit HaYehudi Party Knesset members this in the past: ’Don't try and test us.’ It will be a very, very harsh battle. That is my task in these times, to send that message out to everyone. If there will be a law here that we see as forcing us to enlist [in the military], the rabbis will call for a religious war."
Porush asked Shapiro to convey the following message to Washington.
"They shouldn't be at all surprised. If there is forced conscription, the rabbis will see this as trying to change the way of life of the haredi community and it will bring deep turmoil to Israel,” Porush threatened, adding that Jews have the right to fulfill the Torah’s commandment to study the Torah day and night. The current Israeli government, which seeks to uproot that day and night Torah study by forcing haredim to serve in the military and join the workforce rather than relying on government stipends and welfare, is like communist countries that forbade Jews from observing Jewish practice and law, and the rabbis won’t tolerate that, Porush warned.