Tel-Chai Nation

Lapid gave one of his first Knesset speeches upon the podium, and the Haredi parties predictably could only answer selfishly:

"This government is built on hatred," United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush said in a speech that upset Lapid. "It is a government of people with no experience in public service. They only care about how their picture looks on Facebook."

Blah, blah, blah, blah. That's all he can think of saying. A perfect cure for insomnia.

Lapid responded to accusations from the haredi factions that he posts Facebook messages on Saturdays, saying he could write whatever he wanted on Facebook and do whatever he wants on Shabbat.

He also defended the make-up of the government. "There is such a thing as a government without haredim," Lapid told UTJ MKs. "The country has stopped getting instructions from you. We were sick of it. That's why you no longer control the Finance Committee. You were part of the government that created the defecit that I must fix. You weren't the cheapest coalition members."

The finance minister continued attacking the haredi factions over the Knesset podium, telling them the state of Israel is "done getting orders" from them and that despite their objections to the haredi draft plan, "this government is going to ensure there will be a lot of IDF recruits from your back yard [haredi yeshivot]."

Oh yes, we've had enough of this tommyrot the Haredis have been carrying on for the past 2 decades. The time has come for them to knock off the whining and start admitting they're capable of making mistakes. But alas, I figure it'll be years before the Haredi parties are willing to do that.

Update: and 61 percent of the public believes that Haredi recruitment to the army should be now. Wish the Haredi parties would ponder that, because the number of people who support the draft could be even significantly higher.

Update 2: oh, and what's this, all the Haredi leaders are doing now is thinking of how to fight teaching the core school curriculum along with the draft:

[Rabbi Shai] Piron said earlier this month that under the reforms he was planning, any school that does not teach the state core curriculum subjects would receive no state funding whatsoever.

Sources in the United Torah Judaism haredi party have described Piron as “the most dangerous man in Israel for the haredi community.”

Gee, how is he so much more dangerous than say...Ahmedinejad over in Iran? I fail to grasp any logic here.

Under the current arrangement with the Education Ministry, Ashkenazi haredi elementary schools receive from the state between 55 and 75 percent of the budget allotted to non-haredi schools, and are expected to teach a corresponding proportion of the state core curriculum.

In practice, however, this is extremely rare – haredi elementary schools teach far less of the state core curriculum than is expected; the overwhelming majority of haredi high schools teach no secular subjects whatsoever.

On Friday, the Council of Torah Sages of the Agudat Yisrael movement, which represents the hassidic strain of Israel’s haredi population, issued a declaration in two hassidic newspapers calling on the government not to interfere in the haredi education system by enforcing the teaching of core curriculum subjects.

“We are commanded to stand firm against the attempts of the authorities to force changes, God forbid, through the temptation of [state] funds or threats to cut off such funding,” the council declared.

When they speak of "authorities", it's like they consider the Israeli law system a different country! Where did they cease to comprehend the difference between the Russians and the Israelis, the latter whom they clearly don't see themselves a part of?

In fact, while we're on the subject, here's something about some of the Haredi media's hostility towards Zionism:

Yated Ne'eman, another haredi paper, has nothing on Memorial Day or Independence Day. One of the inner pages has a well-hidden piece on the founding of the state. Does it mention those who died? Does it list the state's accomplishments? No, and no. It is nothing but a tirade against Zionism. It includes a rationale for not memorializing the fallen or celebrating independence: "There is no point in going on and on about why we do not partake in the noisy celebrations. Such events are designed to compensate for the painful soul-searching that must be conducted over the path the Jewish people have taken as a result of Zionism."

No respect for the law, and no respect for Israel's fallen either, that's the alarming MO some, if not all, of the Haredi press wallow in.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Jerusalem, Knesset, military