We are in the process again, who will force the flood after us?

September 4, 2016   

היה זה בשלהי ממשלת נתניהו השניה. שוחחתי אז עם עם עורך אתר 'ליכודניק, אריק זיו, על חוק הגיוס. בראש 'הוועדה לקידום השוויון בנטל',שהוקמה באותם ימים עמד ח"כ יוחנן פלסנר מקדימה ז"ל. חברי הוועדה ניסו למצוא מתווה מתאים שיירצה את כל הצדדים. הוועדה סיימה את דיוניה, כמעט הגישה דו"ח, אבל אז החלו חריקות בעקבות פרישת אחדים מחבריה, ונתניהו פירק את הוועדה ימים חלפו, פלסנר הגיש דו"ח משלו שהתבסס על טיוטת הדו"ח של הוועדה, אבל היא הפכה לבלתי רלוונטית. Arik Ziv then warned again: The Haredim will still miss the committee's compromise. He said - and he was right. The government was dissolved, and after the elections, the third Netanyahu government was formed, with the Bennett-Lapid Brotherhood Alliance, a government in which the Haredi public suffered every possible blow. Until recently, the Haredi public was still licking the wounds from that time - until the Haredi representatives managed to erase all of the 'Lapid decrees'. 

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This week, in his political column published in Likudnik, Arik Ziv again warns the Haredim.

""It seems we are entering a new, old era where there is competition: Who will bend the government? This is a competition that in every period accelerates hatred for the ultra-Orthodox.

""When in 2013 the High Court of Justice decided to mobilize Haredim, it was clear that there was no choice but to reach an agreement - but the Haredim led a struggle in which they did not accept any compromise. Even when they were presented with a 'bogey outline', they refused. And when they announced that they would not agree and would drop the budget, we went to the 2013 elections, from which they came out while outside the coalition, when the Bennett-Lapid Brotherhood Alliance determined: no Haredim.".

""From there we came to the conscription law - and then the Haredim already missed the 'bogie outline'.". 

""Now they are in the process of who will force and who will bend the government, followed by the flood. Since when can an ultra-Orthodox approve work on Shabbat? It's better not to ask them. Sometimes where a fool throws a stone, a thousand wise men won't find it.".

Unfortunately, there is a situation where he is right.

Yesh Atid's growing mandates in the polls are just a warning sign. Work involving the desecration of the Sabbath has been going on for many months, perhaps years, all over the country. Until now, the Haredim have turned a blind eye.

There has been a growing realization in recent years that laws imposed on secularists are not good for anyone. Therefore, be careful, you will not find laws of this type on the government or Knesset table. Indeed, these are the kind of laws that have run into a wall of secular opposition, and only elevate the parties that 'make money' from hatred of the Haredim ("We do not hate Haredim," the top brass will, of course, clarify).

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Last Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu realized that Health Minister Yaakov Litzman was determined to withdraw from the coalition over the desecration of the Sabbath on Israel Railways. This time, the threat was significant.

It is possible that the ultra-Orthodox media, which hyped the Shabbat jobs crisis, is what led him to decide to go all the way this time.

Netanyahu was forced to stop work on Saturday, secularists went out to demonstrate, and Yair Lapid, once again, emerged as the big beneficiary.

Is this a smart move? It may not be.

Here is the place to make a reservation and say that this criticism is written as a political commentary only. It does not, God forbid, criticize the decisions of the great men of Israel - if they were indeed involved in the affair and the decisions.