If there was any doubt until now regarding Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s disdain for chareidi Jewry, it should be clear today, Monday, 12 Iyar 5773 following the senior minister’s remarks.
The Knesset on Monday afternoon opened its summer session Monday And in keeping with their promise, chareidi opposition MKs were not silent or passive, exchanging verbal blows with their political rival, Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who heads the Yesh Atid party. The coalition defeated all the no-confidence motions as expected, but it is clear to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners that this Knesset will be facing an uphill battle at every turn.
The chareidi lawmakers lashed out at Lapid for his impending cuts, which will include monthly child allowances, cuts that will hit chareidi families very hard. Yeshiva and kollel funding will be cut and government assistance in areas will be lowered towards creating a significantly more difficult financial reality for families who barely make the month today. An increase of one percent in value added tax to 18%; adding VAT to fruits and vegetables; increasing income tax and other measures will make escaping the new fiscal belt tightening inescapable. The minister however did not go on the defensive but came back accusing the chareidim of creating the bleak fiscal reality that exists in Israel today. He referred to the chareidim as “costly partners” who sat in the government which created the deficit, which he explained he must now clean up. Lapid simply explained he inherited the mess and he will get the job done, but pointed the finger of blame at his predecessors, with an emphasis on the chareidim.
When MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Meir Porush had his turn at the podium he questioned the new administration’s priorities, wondering how the sharing the burden has become ‘the’ issue while the nation faces existential security threats. Lapid asked Porush why the drop in enlistment into the IDF does not concern him if security is such a pressing matter, adding “don’t worry. We are taking care of this too. There will be many many new recruits,” referring to the planned induction of chareidim.
In response to the constant heckling from MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Moshe Gafne, the former chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee Lapid told him “the country does not belong to you or the chareidim.” Lapid promised no child would go hungry, and added the parents who bring a child into the world are ultimately responsible for feeding that child. He added that he is fed up taking orders and instructions from Gafne.
Another attack was leveled at Lapid for posting to his Facebook page on Shabbos, to which he stated “I post because I don’t keep Shabbos. I don’t tell you how to live so don’t tell me.”
The tone of the new administration is clear, one of animosity and confrontation. It is equally clear the chareidim are angered as well as concerned, for now, after the smoke has cleared and the coalition sworn in, Lapid and his allies are in a position of power while the chareidi parties are limited to accusations and shouts, no longer in control of ministries or major committees and budgets.
Lapid explained earlier in the day the budget is a complex one, one that compels the administration to extricate the nation from the fiscal hole and this will result in an increase in taxation and a reduction in spending, promising in two years every Israeli will feel the change and see the improvements in many areas, including education.
Lapid stated the days of distributing funds to a specific sector that controls the coffer are over and citizens will find the government fair and responsible in dealing with the nation’s finances.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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19 Responses
He is being quite logical since his movements core belief is that the frum Jews are, from his perspective “unser Unglück!.”
He could call for a boycott of frum business serving the secular community, but there aren’t any in Israel (unlike America). He could call to nationalize frum banks (but the closest he can find are some money exchanges and some charities). We should have pity on Mr. Lapid since he has the difficult challenge of blaming the economy on a group that is poor (Obama has it is, he blames the rich – anyone can do that).
“I post because I don’t keep Shabbos”!
Nebach! And these people are “controling” the “Jewish” Nation? Why is it called the “Jewish State” if everything they do is against Judaism?! To be Mitzayer the Frum citizens who ARE keeping the Torah, is very dangerous and self defeating! How can they expect to have any Siyata Dishmaya? Shame on Piron for being a usefull idiot of the wicked Lapid!
sure – “fair” to everyone but the chareidim!
Nebach Mr Lapid will probably burn in purgatory for a lonnnnng time.
The tone of the new administration is clear, one of animosity and confrontation. It is equally clear the chareidim are angered as well as concerned.
there is nothing wrong with having things out in the open , and as to animosity and confrontation please look in the mirror. based on reading this artical , sad to say it is the frum who are confrontational and looking for a fight.
dveykus613 says:
April 22, 2013 at 4:46 pm
sure – “fair” to everyone but the chareidim!
why because yhey will not get speacil treatment anynore
grow up
Wait? Are you saying that Yair Lapid, son of Tommy Lapid, secretly disliked chareidim all along and that only now his genuine disdain is showing through? Nah! Say it ain’t so!
Please note the HUGE dollop of sarcasm.
Ignorant of economics, the money games and he is running the Finance Department??. Hashem Yiracham!!!
I know I’ll be beaten up for my comment, BUT, I really feel bad for Lapid and his ilk.
I “truly” believe that the zchus of Torah is protecting the country. One doesn’t need to be too frum in order to see that the place exists on miracles.
I shudder when I think of the Torah protection will be removed because of their actions. They are literally shooting themselves in the foot.
I realize that not all chareidim are really learning. But I also know that I can’t stop giving Tzedaka because there’s some small percentage of fakers out there. There will always be those that will scam the system (even in our own USA). But this broad painting of a whole segment as being the ones that are crippling the country is removing any vestige of zchus that this medina has to stay alive.
this article is NOT fair- it is selective and prejudice-
Lapids points were as follows-
1. if you want to have alot of kids – Enjoy- but dont ask other to pay for it- you are welcome to have AS MANY as you want but be responsible and its a parents job to take care of their kids NOT everyone elses…
2. there is freedom of religion – he has the right to keep or not to keep what he wants..if he wans to post on Facebook as gafni attacked him – it is HIS right……
The chareidim in the Knesset appear to be just as rude and confrontational as Lapid is.
What a twisted report. The ‘tone of animosity and confrontation’ was clearly coming from the UTJ MK’s, who are continuing to act like little children who have had a toy taken from them.
Have you noticed how the hatred of the chilonim towards charedim skyrocketed since Bennet and Lapid joined the government?
Lapid reminds me of Hitler and the Nazis ym”sh who blamed the Jews for their troubles. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lapid harasha would find a way to – at least – expel charedim from Israel.
If we’ll all say velamalshinim with kavanah will surely get rid of these 2 charedi haters before it gets worse.
money,money,money………
No. 2: It is called a Jewish state because it was intended – by 19th Century secular Zionists, and by the 20th Century United Nations which declared it to be a Jewish state – to be a homeland for Jews. And Jews are Jews whether or not they observe Torah. Would you like all non-Jews and all non-Torah-observant Jews to leave? And if they do, what would you expect to happen to the Jewish state?
No 15- yes-it’s better if they all leave. don’t worry- the same G-D who has saved us throughout the generations, who has made us outlive many nations and beliefs, will continue to do so. as long as we keep to His Torah and Mitzvos. that’s how we are here today; and subsequently a ‘Jewish state’ was able to form.
#15: 19th-century Zionists first wanted to convert everyone to Christianity. When that didn’t work out, they picked the state idea instead. But there was to be little if anything Jewish about this state. And so it happened (more or less).
Calling Israel “the Jewish State” is somewhat like calling Turkey “the Muslim State” because lots of Muslims happen to live there and rule the country.
#15:
There is a vast difference between a state of Jews and a Jewish state. That is why the founding fathers of the State of Israel mandated Shabbos observance on the public level, at least on paper.
If someone were to open, lehavdil, a Muslim school and say, we don’t mandate belief in Mohammed, we don’t pray, we don’t have mandatory classes in the Koran, anyone who wants to come and pray in Mecca and Medina can do so as they please, the logical question would be: So then what makes your school Muslim?
The same goes for a Jewish state.
This article is skewed and the whole story is not being reported. There is a huge budget deficit in the country. It has to be dealt with so that Israel doesn’t end up in the situation of so many European countries. A welfare state is unsustainable (as evidenced by the European crisis), plus Israel has to maintain a huge defense budget. Cuts have to be made. Charedim are unfortunately disproportionately affected by the cuts because of disproportionately relying on state funding.
Charedi MK’s attacked Lapid,accusing him of all the same things: hating Charedim, hating the poor, being a rasha, ect.
His response was to tell them (for the umpteeth time) that he doesn’t hate them; he disagrees with the amount of power that they have in working to benefit just their constituency. He said that that their being out of the govt. is a result of the political process. He’s right; from time to time other groups have been left out of the coalition. No one throws the temper tantrum that the Charedi parties are. He said that they’re not entitled to be in the govt.He went on to say that it’s hypocritical for them to blame him for the economic situation when they were sitting in the last government, which ran up the deficit in the first place.