Once must give opposition leader Tzipi Livni credit for her persistence and consistency, never missing an opportunity to blame the problems of Israel on the chareidi community. Today, Wednesday, in her address to the Jerusalem Conference was not an exception.
She spoke of the importance of maintaining the State of Israel as a Jewish state, making reference to “not just in numbers,” but the “character” of such a state – not just in “Bnei Brak and Meah Shearim but in Tel Aviv”. She insists that if the painful decisions are not made, we will result in a state from the Mediterranean to the Jordan with all residents having a right to vote, in short, an Arab nation.
She spoke who “define a Jewish state in the confines of halacha” and it is important “to define these concepts between ourselves”.
Livni spoke of her ongoing interest and support of giyur, inviting all those who wish to join the Jewish People to please do so, adding she has maintained a dialogue with rabbis on this very matter. But if these same people speak Hebrew and serve in the IDF does not make them Jews, adding serving in the IDF is a major responsibility of citizens, but doing so along with speaking Hebrew does not make one a Jew. This is also not what unites between Israel and the Diaspora. To my sorrow, this is not part of the ongoing dialogue.
“The nation is hostage to chareidi parties which represent a certain segment of society and most secularists are hesitant regarding the advancement of the Jewishness issue – maintaining the symbolism, keeping shabbos, yomim tovim and the Law of Return as a major component of a new constitution. The constitution lags, not advancing, due to the lack of interest among certain segments of society”.
“These issues concern me more than a chareidi living in Bnei Brak – for there, they are raised on such values anyway but for most of the nation, that which is taken for granted is no longer automatically understood. How many people go to shul on Yom Kippur and how many ride bicycles? This is just one example of a very worrisome trend. While there is a common denominator, it is lost due in part to dispute and bad politics. A party cannot pay such a heavy price, all they believe in, just to remain in position of power”.
The opposition leader detailed this is due in part because of payouts to “certain sectors” that do not “represent the Jewish issue”. She explains that when she was in Likud, she referred to the party as one “with a kippa in its pocket, but today, it is not so. Likud has given a monopoly on religion to its coalition partners. I remain firm on my right to represent Jewish values, ideas, and history, and the nationalistic aspect of Jewishness”.
Livni stressed that is how she views Kadima’s mission, hoping others will join. She warns if the current situation does not change, we will live side by side with totally different values and it will lead to autonomy regarding a moral ethical standard without any connection to the central government, which we be left to address budgetary matters only.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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8 Responses
well, since we’ve seen many riots led by the ultra charedi community in israel that end up in civil unrest, physical violence and even death at the hands of true extremists would make me side with her on this issue.
when the state can no longer do archeological excavations because extremist rabbis begin attacking the archeology team after they uncover animal bones, and the rabbi claims it was human bones, even without having any knowledge of anthropology, and the police are forced to release charedi prisoners who are accused of starving their own children, under threat of violent mass demonstrations that end up with rock throwing and fires, to the point where police can no longer enter the areas, and extremists steal human bodies after people die…
this is dangerous for a state.
i agree with her
ok… but lets solve this problem by pulling the secular to the right not the right to the secular… or getting rid of the secular all together.
This has been the position of most of Israel’s secular leaders since Ben Gurion. What else is new. What they seem to forget is that chareidi population growth is like 8.0 and theirs is 1.3. They are headed for extinction while chareidim are headed for taking over by pure attrition of the secular population. Chareidim, although obviously concerned about Arabs in Israel, are not worried that they will take over the government.
Why shouldn’t they hate us. We’ll never vote for any of their parties, no matter what.
The only way to change this, is for ALL gedolim to get together (easier said than done) and close down all religious parties in Israel, for good.
The remaining secular parties will be falling over each other trying to curry favor with a 30% easily identifiable population segment – like the “Jewish Vote” in the USA where we’re only 1%.
Without self-made “machers” in between, we’ll end up having much more influence than we do now.
Wake up and smell it. Today these games don’t work any more – a kipa in the packet and hate Chareidim, today it’s either you believe or don’t believe, vkm”l.
comment #1, The extremists and violence first came from the seculars.
I have personally come accross many seculars both online and in person and every single time these issues come up the seculrar have always been the ones to start getting violent or threatening violence.
And how do you know they were animal bones?
Were you there?
Did you personally see those bones?
#6
Extremism and violence are WRONG no matter who started it.
As for the bones, I think that the judgement of a trained archeologist carries an infinite amount of weight when compared to an ubntrained self-styled expert rabbi.
The chances of the bones in question being human are about the same as the earth being flat.
Before you say it, yes, I am Charedi.
hereorthere
first of all, secular jews dont have something to live up to, we do! we have to make a kiddush hashem and not a chillul hashem!
second, youre wrong. secular israeli jews DONT THROW ROCKS at people! they dont shut whole cities down when they dont like something!
third, about the animal bones, even though i wasnt there, i do know that this uneducated violent buffoon ISNT an anthropologist!! what does he know about animal bones?!?!