Unity, miracles, wonders, prayers, criticism. In short, war newspapers

1.

As expected, the weekend newspapers of the ultra-Orthodox sector were war newspapers. Alongside chilling descriptions of the wounded fighting for their lives in hospitals, there were also gruesome descriptions of the tunnels that were planned for spectacular attacks.

In between, there were also sentences of criticism, implicit or explicit, about the operation, and about intelligence failures. And also - many descriptions of miracles, wonders and prayers.

But above all, what stood out this week, both in reality and in the Haredi press, was the sense of unity among the people of Israel. Similar scenes seen in Israel in the 1960s, the years after the establishment of the state, were repeated in the current war.

The people of Israel flooded the combat zone with all the good of the land, for the sake of the fighters. Suddenly, the voices of criticism and hesitation were almost completely silenced. The entire nation became a front. It began, it is worth remembering, with the kidnapping of the three boys, but continued and grew stronger with each day of fighting.

Suddenly every shop owner (shawarma, iPads, socks, and what not) felt that his heart was with the soldiers, and started vehicles south to bring his merchandise. Suddenly every mother who sent a son to the front became a hero in her neighborhood and admired by all her neighbors.

On this issue, the Haredi media was completely united.

Because this time, this war, this operation - our strength is in our unity.

2.

'The 'Informant' got a little carried away with the optimism celebrated on the front page of Friday's newspaper. "Hamas men surrender with white flags." "Assessment: Hamas on the verge of collapse.".

In the list of war achievements on the cover, I didn't find a single word about the dead on the Israeli side. Wounded in the Strip, detained for questioning, dead in the Strip, tunnels discovered, missiles launched at Israel. And where are the wounded and dead on the Israeli side? - None.

The competitor, 'The Herald', was more up-to-date. "An earthquake in the tunnels," announced the cover of the supplement 'Shavoi', and also took the trouble to update on officers and soldiers who were injured or killed, as well as civilians.

3.

This optimism of the informant, by the way, was also intertwined with another, rather surprising, issue: the Jerusalem Municipality.

""The mayor of Jerusalem promises to enforce the law against desecration of the Sabbath in the station complex and other places," it says explicitly. And in one of the middle columns: "The allocation of a synagogue for the Abrahim in the Givat HaMevasser neighborhood in Jerusalem has been approved.".

An idyll in the style of the capital city.

And no, what the heck, this has nothing to do with the fact that Hasidic Gur supported Mayor Nir Barkat in the last (and the last) elections. Journalists do not act according to the demands of their patrons.

4.

Another 'historic' event is being covered this week in the Haredi press. Since it took place last Friday, after the newspapers closed, they were forced to write about it this week, six days late. But not writing about such an important issue is impossible. Especially when not much new politics has flowed in the past week. War week is the week of military correspondents.

You won't believe it, but the three leaders of the Haredi factions, Aryeh Deri, Yaakov Litzman, and Moshe Gafni, were invited to the "Kriya" in Tel Aviv for a personal meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister. Even more surprising: Netanyahu offered them a place in his government. At least that's what they claim.

According to a version in the community, it was Deri who asked Netanyahu to join his emergency government. Fact: This is what Netanyahu told Litzman and Gafni when they met with him, shortly after Deri left the cabinet.

Choose one of the following options:

1. Bibi 'worked' on Litzman-Gafni. He was the one who suggested Deri join the government.
2. Deri was indeed the one who requested it, but hoped that Netanyahu would not leak it, so he quickly denied it to his two friends.
3. Litzman and Gafni were the ones who leaked the story to the community - and lied. Netanyahu was the one who proposed to Deri, and didn't tell Litzman-Gafni that Deri proposed.
4. A newspaper in the Malibu community wrote the story.

Without recommending to readers the right option in my opinion, what is clear is that even if Netanyahu made the proposal, he did not mean it seriously for a moment. Although Deri's office really wants to believe that Netanyahu is "dying to bring the Haredim into his government" - it is nonsense to think so.

Netanyahu prefers the existing secular government to an ultra-Orthodox government that would result in incessant media incitement over "the money Netanyahu gave to the ultra-Orthodox.".

By the way, the excuse "Lieberman doesn't agree" has become a passing legend. After breaking up Yisrael Beiteinu's partnership with Likud and repeatedly attacking it, Netanyahu owes Lieberman nothing at all.

5.

Only a week has passed since I praised the excellent field report of 'Yom Liom'. This week, the newspaper's editor chose to do his field report... in the newspaper 'Mishpacha', specifically. So the Tzalash is moving there.

Instead, Day by Day was satisfied with a one-page field report in Nir-Am in the south. A nice article, but certainly not exhaustive. It's of course better than half a page in 'Bakhilah', but disappointing given the beautiful article from the previous week.

The field award was taken by 'Mishpasha' this week - and easily. He sent his writers to many places, bringing beautiful and fascinating articles with them, and definitely shook us all to the south.

By the way, sending a letter to Bnei Brak or the village of Yavuz is unnecessary and pointless. Keep sending them south, and don't let any of us down because Bnei Brak or any other settlement in the center of the country has become a front. The residents there aren't even beginning to feel what the residents of the south feel, and not since today.

A special award goes to the project of 4 mothers, not those who brought the Second Lebanon War to an end, but those who wholeheartedly support the sons they sent to the battlefield: Yehudit Glazer from the Golan Heights, Dorit Harel from Be'er Sheva, Shira Menashe from Gavat Shmuel, and Yael Har Kesaf from Haifa.

Their description of the worry is chilling. It is hard to read their description of the lack of communication with the recruited child. "I am anxious, scared to death, every knock on the door leaves me breathless, every phone ring makes me jump.".

They strengthen the fighters and their senders, they are complete with themselves, they encourage themselves.

And all of us.

6.

The political section this week is particularly weak in a family newspaper. But maybe that's a good thing. After all, this is a war week. When the guns are roaring, politics should be quiet.

And yet, from here to a funny sentence like this one that says Itzik Sudri will open the doors of the traditional Eastern public to Bozhi Herzog - the road is long. Well, really.

Before he tries to open the doors of the East, it is traditional for Shas itself (to pay, or to each of its two parts).

7.

Enough! I'm tired of the PR letters.

With the end of the third week of the war and the first of the ground war, a request was made from this platform to all newspaper editors: Please, stop cooperating with the flood of PR that has descended on us all. Leumi with the South, Mercantile with the South, Klalit with the South, Coca-Cola with the South, Terra with the South, rabbis with the South, MKs with the South.

Ask the PR offices, gently, to replace these reports with other reports. Coca-Cola with Shabbat sounds more decent than Coca-Cola with fighters.

For God's sake, if you really want to donate, with all your heart, to the fighting soldiers, do it without noise and typing.

8.

And something else, much more annoying: It is not clear how and why the news item "This is how Maran HaGara Yosef predicted the rocket fire following the disengagement" was inserted between the consumer and PR columns of Hadashot Sfavsha.

What is a priest in a cemetery?

By the way, pay attention to the date of the newspaper. It's also important.

9.

With a late start, and a two-week delay, 'Bakhita' remembered to publish an article about the journalists' trip to the Crimean Peninsula.

So better late than never. Still, publishing it a week earlier (even a week late) would have been good for the article.

10.

Speaking of war: I was missing a mention in the war-filled newspapers about the anniversary of the passing of the Grand Master Elyashiv. I couldn't find anything about it, either in the family or in the Hamodia (and I don't mean the Torah section). Certainly not in 'Yom Yom'.

11.

The award for the most exhaustive description of the failures of war should be given this week to 'The Herald', who did not mince words.

• "Right now they are only asking difficult questions inside closed rooms, they are not speaking out loud. The day after the war they will flood the questions.".

• "They hear from soldiers about excessive restraint, about excessive restraint in buildings where terrorists are located.".

• "Handcuffing the soldiers.".

The informant lashed out a little, although one sentence of his, about the tunnels ("Terror in the thick of the earth," was the title they chose), was particularly apt:

""While Netanyahu was talking about Iran, he forgot about Iran, which is here under the lamppost, underground.".

12.

And finally, one strange thing caught my eye when I was browsing the weeklies 'In the Community' and 'Family'.

A week ago, the two weeklies published a PR statement on behalf of Yad L'Achim. It stated that the Friendship Foundation was funding a mission. The Foundation was quick to demand a response from it, and the right was granted.

What is interesting is that Yad L'Achim (where did it know about the apology?) quickly published an advertising page, black and white, containing an explicit letter from the late Rabbi Elyashiv, in which it is clarified in his signature that the foundation is funding a mission. Since the system does not bear any responsibility for an ad, there is no chance of publishing a response next week...

It is worth noting here that 'Mishpasha' pretty much 'cut down' the information in the response, removing the name of the advertising agency handling the 'Friendship Fund' case, as well as additional details that attempt to flatter the fund. 'Bakhila' went out of its way and copied the message word for word, while being very generous with the number of words.

Perhaps due to a lack of sufficient field reports, which left room.

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