Two explosions were at the center of the weekend press in the Haredi sector this week. One - a real terrorist attack; the other - another explosion in secular-Haredi relations in the State of Israel.
Let's start with the first - the attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels, in which the couple Emmanuel and Mira Riva were murdered.
The daily Yated Ne'eman even managed to link the attack to the approaching Shavuot holiday. "From which hatred descended," was the headline on the front page. "Ten days before the Torah Giving Holiday, we received another reminder of the hatred that descended from Mount Sinai," was the explanation for those who weren't sophisticated enough to understand.
And also, a link to the European Union elections was there: "The despicable murderer did not wait until the European Parliament elections when Europe declared: 'I am anti-Semitic.'" Or: "Six shots, and one declaration.".
In the daily newspaper 'HaMbesar' the headline was a bit pathetic. "The Brussels Mystery." As if that was the point of the story - who was behind the assassin.
""Museum of Death," was the headline in the weekly "Bakhita.".
In general, while the dailies highlighted the attack and covered it extensively, trying to shock, the weeklies pretty much pushed it to the sidelines. Although the cover of the news pamphlet in Bekhila had a small teaser on the front page with "Shooting in the Shtetl," Mishpasha also gave up on that. On the other hand, Mishpasha was apparently the only one to send a reporter to the area itself (David Daman, in the magazine).
The wrath of the weekly newspapers was directed this week at Judge Elyakim Rubinstein.
While the dailies were content with a mention in the columns, the weeklies highlighted the story on the cover. In the community, it did so in a somewhat clichéd way - "Reaping the Promise of Income" - the image showed a bearded Haredi, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, holding a sickle in his hand, harvesting a field of wheat.
A little fake. If you don't have a connection between the parasha and Shavuot, you don't have to glue them together with contact adhesive...
The family almost managed to squeeze tears from the readers' eyes. "A Little Boy's Revenge," the headline cried in black on red.
""Their cry was not heard, but their fate was sealed." Or: "There was no defense attorney when seven Supreme Court justices sealed the fate of tens of thousands of children in Israel to the ignominy of hunger, poverty, and deprivation.".
And inside, in the cover story, they never ceased to make hearts tremble: "Seven judges facing a small, hungry child." Or: "The state gave, Elyakim took," in the style of an obituary.
It seems that this time, 'Mishpasha' has recruited its best talents and skills to plot the drama and detail it on the hairs. And that's a good thing. In the community, they failed to shock anyone, not even with the headline "And he rose up in his fire and his stench spread.".
They yearned for the family. And they wanted to bring the handkerchiefs.
The 'press line' was terribly cynical.
In one of the columns, the reporter was able to say that half an hour after the High Court ruling, the responses of the Haredi Knesset members were already in the newspapers. "I don't think any of them missed the right to respond. The judges' decision succeeded in squeezing the anger glands: impudence, wickedness, cruelty, a chorus of hatred, discrimination, harassment.".
It's not that he and we have a problem with the impressive collection of condemnations from our MK's seminary, it's simply because the reporter (and it's hard not to agree with him) believes that in order to convince the other side, one needs to come up with slightly more substantive arguments.
Or, in other words, you need to know how to do outreach.
And if you don't know, it's better to keep quiet and let others, more sophisticated, do the work.
And how is it possible, on the eve of the presidential election, without a word on the subject?
So, in the cover story, Beitad Ne'eman chose to cover the presidential elections in... Egypt, with the overwhelming election of General Sisi.
Quite original, it should be noted.
Only at the back of the newspaper, right towards the end, did they also devote space to 'our' president. "Netanyahu will not be sad if Rivlin is not elected in the end," they interspersed between the words. Did they intend to hint at a future order to support Rubin? It is likely that the columnists have no information on the subject, and these are musings that represent the writer's opinion only.
As for another column, quite nearby, the following caption appeared, in the name of Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon: "Rivlin's failure will be the failure of the Likud." The Likud supported the conscription law, as we all know.
In the Hembsher, they also headed in the same direction. "After his chances of presenting his own candidate had passed, and for fear of being portrayed in the right-wing camp as someone who torpedoed the victory of the home-grown candidate, the Prime Minister called Reuven Rivlin," they presented the full picture of the situation. Did they also intend to hint there at something about the newspaper's political patron, MK Meir Porush, and how he is expected to vote? Who knows.
But most original of all were the words of journalist Kobi Arieli, as quoted in 'Kav Ya'arish':
""Six candidates, many, clashing, clashing and fighting – with the goal of uniting the people.".
Every word, a gem.
There is no joy without eggplants (almost) and no issue of Yated Ne'eman (almost) without an attack on Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. This time, under the headline "Haredim in the Ghetto," there appeared, no less, no more, a comparison between... Herzl, the visionary of the state, and Barkat.
Herzl "asked to imprison the rabbis in their barracks," the Jerusalem Municipality, "which is apparently very Zionist," harasses the ultra-Orthodox residents in the mixed neighborhoods.
In between, they also managed to sting Yesh Atid there.
In an article (advertisement?) for 'Entrepreneurial Values', the reporter compared the "Torch Race" (Torah study) to Yair Lapid, under the headline "Torch against Lapid.".
In another article, about secular youth returning to the study centers, the idea was repeated again: "There is a future, in the study centers.".
So that's it. Yair Lapid is not at all tickled, not even irritated. And for readers of Yated Ne'eman, I would present the holiday of Matan Torah in a slightly more spiritual way than as a counter to Lapid's party.
But, at least they tried to be original, even if they didn't really succeed.
""You don't expect that this weekend's newspapers, in the Haredi media, will be occupied by the Pope's visit," I told Razi Barkai.
""Then there was some criticism that he visited Yad Vashem and didn't bother to explicitly condemn the Holocaust, that it was actually 'his' audience that carried it out, like all the other pogroms. But the bulk of the criticism was directed at him in the press the previous weekend, when the spotlight was turned on him. There was anger and fury then. This week they were angry at President Shimon Peres, who announced that he would attend the Pope's prayer in the company of Abu Mazen... and not that the criticism moves Peres anything, certainly not when he already has half a foot out.
""Speaking of the reports coming from Belgium, the issue took center stage – the truth is, there were two attacks in the center – the second one is not defined as an attack, but it was portrayed as such.".
""But also the second issue, the ruling of Elyakim Rubinstein, who took poor families, beyond the fact that the father works, and took their last pennies from them, while he also destroys that with his scheming.".
• Did they also use the word "attack"?
""No, but all the words were there except for this one...""
• Did you hear Yair Shreki's report this morning on the GLATC? – Barkai asked.
""I heard, I heard," I replied, adding that I wasn't surprised; the contents of the will were no secret to me, even though I couldn't repeat it word for word. "I knew such a will existed.".
• Was this published by you?
""Of course. This morning it was published in 'Haredim10'.".
• I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about the Shas newspapers, and Beited Ne'eman...
""In 'Yom Yam', allow me to guess that they will skip this topic, they are not a daily either, but a weekly and by the end of the week the topic will be forgotten...I don't believe that in Beit Ne'eman they will address this either. The dailies write very carefully about such topics, with white gloves, only when it is necessary to attack personalities like Nir Barkat will you find attacks. But when it comes to the family of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zt"l, there is an opinion that says that one should not delve into the intricacies of the family.
""Obviously, such a will naturally causes a lot of chaos within the family, and it automatically gets out to the media.".
Following on from the words of the Arab journalist who appeared on the air before me, Barkai was interested in the distribution of votes for the ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, for the presidency.
""It didn't grab the headlines, but the press presented the controversy: Is voting for Reuven Rivlin revenge on Benjamin Netanyahu or a reward for Likud? And there's another question: Was the conscription law enacted because of Netanyahu's fault, or is the entire Likud to blame? If Likud is to blame - why should we give it a gift and vote for Rivlin? And if Netanyahu is to blame, and most opinions say that Netanyahu is to blame - because Likud itself barely 'gets along' with Netanyahu - then we should vote for Rivlin, in order to take revenge on him...
It is reasonable to assume, for example, that most members of United Torah Judaism will vote for Rivlin, because they believe that this is exactly what will anger Netanyahu.
The vast majority of the Haredi media agreed this weekend that: 1. Behind the curtain, Netanyahu will not vote for Rivlin, that voting for Rivlin is not a gift for him, 2. That voting for Rivlin would be revenge on Bibi, 3. That his phone call to Rubin was an insult...
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