“The haredi community feels choked by the situation, to the point many are contemplating forfeiting their Israeli citizenship. If you want to rule over us then do so – but regarding education and culture, we must maintain our autonomy, as it has been for the last 3,000 years."
MK Rabbi Yisrael Eichler
Haredim Will Flee Israel En Masse If Draft Law Passes, Obnoxious Haredi MK Claims
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Haredi Member of Knesset Rabbi Yisrael Eichler was interviewed on Army Radio about the situation with the looming draft of haredim and the haredi community leadership’s decision to fight that draft with all its might and the government's decision to force haredi schools to teach some secular core subjects, Yeshiva World reported.
Eichler – who is known for making outlandish statements that slander and smear political and religious opponents – told listeners that if need be, haredim will leave Israel en masse to avoid being drafted.
“The haredi community feels choked by the situation, to the point many are contemplating forfeiting their Israeli citizenship. If you want to rule over us then do so – but regarding education and culture, we must maintain our autonomy, as it has been for the last 3,000 years,” Eichler reportedly said.
“One of the biggest fallacies in the world is an objective journalist. One who is a journalist is not objective and an objective person cannot be a journalist. It’s not like being an electrician. Therefore, I do not expect to hear objectivity and I don’t expect to hear one legitimizing views that are contrary to a reporter’s,” Eichler – a former journalist – continued, going on to accuse the state-run media of having an anti-haredi agenda and of being biased.
“The Israeli media by and large portrays haredim as posing a danger to the state.…In [Biblical] there was slavery and people starved while the royal message was heard from the palace, that the Jews are the foreigners and squatters. Here to in Israel today they give the feeling to many that the Jews pose a danger. Every report pertaining to one includes the words ‘the man who wore a black yarmulke.’ Therefore, when one sees a haredi man in the street who has absolutely no connection to that report, he is assumed to be guilty.
“If the public is not convinced that private [haredi] stations are reliable, then there is even more responsibility on the state-run stations that are expected to be neutral. These stations are funded with our tax funds and therefore they betray their mission as a state service,” Eichler insisted, failing to note the literally hundreds of times haredi media has openly lied about opponents, has edited uncomfortable facts out of wire service reports it publishes, and has intentionally smeared innocent people – Eichler’s own personal specialty.
Eichler continued his media criticism by making a series of false equivalencies.
How a protest is covered in the secular media depends on who is involved in the protest, Eichler claimed.
If the protest is left-wing organized, then the protest is described as a “legitimate protest event.”
If is organized by Africa asylum seekers, then it is reported as a “freedom march.”
If the protest is by workers then the story involves the plight of workers losing their jobs.
If the protest involves Jewish West Bank settlers about to be evicted from their homes by the IDF, then the protest is reported as being made by “right-wing extremists.”
But if a protest is made by haredim, it is reported as “haredi violence” and “rock-throwing against police,” Eichler whined – failing to note that haredi protests actually are quite often violent riots while the other types of protests rarely are, and failing to note that the Israeli media has regularly and accurately reported peaceful haredi protests as being peaceful.
Eichler – a Belzer hasid who is a member of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Ashkenazi haredi political party – is widely considered to be the most offensive person in Knesset.