Tel-Chai Nation

Another example of Haredis going down Route Nasty to Crazytown went to press and insults the intellect:

An op-ed article published on Sunday in one of the largest selling haredi daily newspapers, Yated Ne’eman, has caused political consternation by comparing a speech made by Adolf Hitler to an article written by Finance Minister Yair Lapid.

Haim Valder, a haredi author and educator, started his article by questioning the root source of “hatred towards haredim” which he claimed is rampant in the country at present.

He noted “the non-Jews always found an excuse for hating Jews... The Protocols of the Elders of Zion presented the Jews as the ones pulling the strings and controlling the world.”

He then compared this accusation with a comment made by Lapid to haredi MK Moshe Gafni, when he said in the Knesset last month, “the State of Israel has stopped taking instructions from you.”

Sounds like Valder can't figure out that non-Haredis were just as equally villified as Haredis were in those dark ages, if not more so.

Now I'll admit that it was stupid of the deputy finance minister to blurt out that "parasites" comment earlier, but that doesn't mean he spoke for Lapid Junior, and it doesn't make for good political commentary either. At worst, it only shows how there's still a portion of Haredis who don't think they have any responsibilities to the modern Israeli state.

Lapid’s office decried the article as “outrageous incitement” for political purposes.

“The comparison between Lapid, the son of a Holocaust survivor, to the greatest enemy of the Jewish people in history is outrageous incitement which makes ugly political use out of a painful wound,” his office said. “We are saddened that instead of dealing with the relevant issues of state of the economy and Israeli society and the need to increase partnership in the work force, there are those who choose to escape to a dialogue of unnecessary and dangerous incitement.”

Yesh Atid MK and haredi rabbi Dov Lipman said that it showed how extreme the haredi leadership has become.

“Minister Lapid is proposing [that] 1,800 elite Torah scholars will be recognized as serving the state through their Torah study... and compensated for it, the rest can study Torah uninterrupted until age 21 and then serve in military or national service geared specifically to haredim and their lifestyle and for money to flow to programs which help haredim enter the workforce. And he is compared to Hitler?” Lipman asked.

“I call on all moderate haredim to join the many who have ‘seen the light’ and reject this extremism. Let’s work together to strengthen the haredi community by laying the groundwork for young men to be Torah scholars, fervently Orthodox, and sustain their families with dignity.”

Some Haredis, sadly, are undoubtably biased against Lipman too. As for Lapid's father, he was a sad case in his time as a politician, but that's still no excuse for nasty language, and to imply that the sins of the father fall upon the child in every way certainly isn't the way to go. I think Valder owes an apology.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Knesset