Opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who of late has not hesitated to express her disdain for chareidi Jewry on Thursday, went on another self-righteous tirade. She slammed the ignorance of the secular and the chareidi schools which refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the state.

Speaking to faction colleagues in a Knesset meeting, Livni explained she will be the first to fight for minority rights, but at the same time questioned the right minorities who feel they may simply shrug off the legitimacy of the government and rule. She explains that today, there is not even a common language, with some speaking Hebrew while others speak Arabic and Yiddish. She had harsh words for the secularists in the “State of Tel Aviv” and their total disconnect from yiddishkheit.

“Being Jewish is not something you told by our parents, but an inner feeling, not what is written in your identity card…Is it bones at Barzilai or not working?”

She laments the fact that in some areas, the “melodies are not heard at all”.  She feels this is because too many identify shuls with the chareidim, and therefore stay away. Livni expresses her hope, a vision in which Jewish studies are included in the public school curriculum and Zionism is taught in chareidi schools.

She blames the secularists for remaining silent instead of making their voices heard, blaming “chareidi politics” for too many unwanted changes.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)