Why is Eichler dragging his feet, and is Yair Lapid a snob? • Sherry Roth on Channel 20

July 1, 2021   

Shari Roth, the political commentator for the Haredim 10 website, was a guest today (Wednesday) on the program 'Knesset Time' with Yaara Zard' alongside Gil Beilin. How did he earn a prestigious degree from his couch at home, and with scholarships? The secret inside Preventing the Danger: Why Everyone Must Vaccinate Children 12 and Older Sherry Roth: The government floor is a little quieter here, things are a little less crowded here... The center members, activists, haven't started arriving yet. And maybe there aren't that many, they only have six seats. Yaara Zard: Tell me, what's happening with the Haredi parties now? How can we see their place within the opposition? Actually, you know what - I want to start something else with you. I opened one of the Haredi websites this week, and I saw a picture, it was like a slap in the face, and I say that in the positive sense. Aryeh Deri is standing, in a suit, with all the Shas MKs, all in suits, the one you know, everyone always with the suits and ties and sometimes the top hat, standing in Eviatar, with Yossi Dagan - I asked myself.... Shari Roth: You were looking for the Messiah in the background, you told yourself, now he can come. Yaara Zard: I asked myself, what about them and Eviatar. There's a lot here in this picture, it's a very powerful picture! Shari Roth: On election night, Shas takes down Rabbi Ovadia, hangs him on the wall in the faction room, he's not always there, but before elections he comes... even to the polls. Sometimes when necessary, Shas brings Bibi and puts Aryeh Deri in the spotlight, everything according to need. Now we need the settlers, we need to wink at them, we need to remind them that they are nervous about Naftali Bennett, and tell them we are here for you. Yaara Zard: Okay, you are speaking cynically here. Shari Roth: Yes, because it is cynical... Yaara Zard: You are talking about the electorate and I accept that. It could be that there is something deeper here. It could be that Shas is saying, we want to be like they always said, religious Zionism, the New Right, the Jewish Home - it doesn't matter what we call it, they are the guardians of the Likud right, so now Shas is saying we are guarding the right-wing camp? Could it be that much? Shari Roth: Let me remind you. Rabbi Ovadia in his political worldview was like Rabbi Shach. That is, a political worldview that leans to the left. It is true that after the disengagement it changed a bit because here we returned and received nothing except They are launching rockets, and yet, there is a worldview in the Jewish religion that the right wing is not sure to like, such as not provoking non-Jews, not entering a settlement that is like a finger in the eye for the Arabs, we are not allowed to do that. So if you took a Haredi party and said, they will be the new Smotrichs - it won't happen. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, you are right that there is a drift in the Haredi street, some of which has been leaning to the right in recent years. Yeshiva students who voted for Smotrich, not many, but there is some drift. Let's say that a teenager, just before he drops out, first of all starts voting for very right-wing parties, and then the second step is leaving the yeshiva world. And that is cynical, because Aryeh Deri also goes to a restaurant in Sderot that loves him right-wing, and hugs Bibi Netanyahu. After all, everything is cynical in politics. Because a moment after the cameras are out of the field, even those who previously fought hug each other. Earlier I posted a picture of Yaakov Asher and Idit Silman in the hallway, They talk so nicely and hug each other. Yaara Zard: How are the Haredi parties in the opposition? Shari Roth: Fortunately for them, or for better, Lieberman doesn't want them at all. So they don't even have that moment where they sit and say: Wait, I'm a member or I'm a quitter, who don't like Litzman, so maybe we'll betray him and quit, and now there's also the law that allows the 4 to quit, so maybe we'll also take Yaakov Asher, who talks nicely with Idit Silman outside, and make a deal. They don't get to that, because Lieberman doesn't want them at all, certainly not in the coming months. First, he wants to purify everything he wants to purify from the road struggle they left behind. So there's no attempt to develop them. Are they really 100 percent with Netanyahu? I was at the opposition faction meeting this week, he invited the heads of the Haredi parties. Does that seem simple to you? So that's it, it's not simple in the Haredi parties. We know that there's Aryeh Deri, the chairman of Shas, there's no problem with that. We know that there's MK Gafni, number 1 in Torah Judaism. But from here, we don't know anything. Who is the head of the Hasidic faction in Torah Judaism? Ostensibly Litzman. But only ostensibly. Because Porush and Ichler come and say: What's the matter, it's us. Arbitration hasn't taken place yet, we're in the lead. And why is Netanyahu inviting Litzman to speak and not inviting us? Now, what are they doing in response? They're not coming. So it's true that not everyone came, and many MKs from the Likud didn't come either, but there's some kind of statement here. Did you notice that there was a very critical vote this week, and Ichler was late. Why? Because he was at his granddaughter's engagement. Come on, granddaughter's engagement, we come, sit for an hour, drink a little 'Cheers', and leave. Of course if there's a critical vote in the Knesset. There's a signal here to Netanyahu, invite us more, remember us. Not everything is Litzman, there are other people besides Litzman. Yaara Zard: But there is nothing here that can be pointed to as an option for joining the coalition. Shari Roth: Thanks to Lieberman. If it were up to them, I don't know if the Tofinim wouldn't beckon to them. Yaara Zard: So you're saying that just as the unifying factor of the opposition is Netanyahu, the unifying factor of the Haredi parties is Lieberman. Shari Roth: Yes, and a little bit of Netanyahu too, who basically says let's have fun, let's have a union, an event, he suddenly has time for them. Yaara Zard: How is the Haredi public dealing with this meeting in the opposition, including with things that have worried them to this day? Shari Roth: Let's make things right. You say 'the Haredi public.' There is the Haredi public, who more or less doesn't know who the prime minister is. My neighbor, next door, probably has no idea who the prime minister is, who is in the opposition and who is in the coalition. She knows that her child goes to yeshiva every month, receives a few shekels from the state, it's not enough anyway and she has to supplement him, both meals and money. But there is the Haredi public that reads a little more. So it depends on what they read. If they read the daily newspapers, they know that Antiochus, the oppressor of the Jews, has come to power here in the last two weeks. He established a government of destruction, rise up to destroy them and lose the laws of your Torah, as it is written on Hanukkah and Purim. There are oppressors... But if you talk about the Haredi public that digs a little more, reads websites, this public knows how to say to itself: Let's examine them according to their actions. Have they cut a shekel in the yeshiva world? Not yet. Has Lieberman already taken my son who sits and studies by force from the Standard? No. Yaara Zard: Are you telling me that it is possible that Lieberman, as Minister of Finance, will ultimately do a service to the Haredi public? Shari Roth: No, don't exaggerate with service to the Haredi public... But will Liberman take my son, who is sitting and studying seriously, with the emphasis on 'seriousness,' and force him to enlist? I don't think that will happen, and I have many conversations with Liberman, I even have a pretty good opinion of him, unlike many of my Haredi colleagues. I don't think he will really make riots and decrees, I think he will be businesslike, at least he really wants to be businesslike, and certainly Ayelet Shaked is not there to cause trouble for the Haredi public. And you know what? Yair Lapid, too, in his new image, the man has matured a lot in recent years, and I like his new image. Yaara Zard: I doubt it. Gil Beilin: Is it possible to change perceptions? Is it possible to convince even those who don't consume the Haredi media about the issue? Shari Roth: You ask a good question. A few days ago, the leaders of the Haredi parties and the senior Haredi media were gathered here, in one of the Knesset chambers, for a conversation that went something like this: We are at war, don't disturb us, don't be nice to the Change Bloc, because we will dip our hands in the mud, you will be nice and ruin everything for us. Did the journalists agree? Not really. There were loud voices there, there were journalists who really shouted and asked tough questions. I, among other things, said: Listen, this government hasn't done anything yet, let's examine it by its actions. I also don't like seeing the MKs hanging out with friends from the Change Bloc, and they tell us not to interview them, not to sit with them. I always tell them: Give us the laws, what is allowed and what is not allowed? Is it allowed to talk in the hallway? Is it allowed to sit in the cafeteria? How many minutes are allowed to sit? How much is allowed for you? How much for us? Gil Beilin: So such a meeting with the publishers of the Haredi media can change something? Shari Roth: It depends on who. The publishers of the daily newspapers are certainly obligated. The more thoughtful and independent journalists will judge this government by its actions. I was here on Monday and saw Yair Lapid leaving Naftali Bennett's room, both foreign minister and alternate, leaving a prime minister's room - I said to myself: Let's see if he has become a 'snob'. But no, he spoke to me so nicely, such a cordial, friendly conversation, as if he had not risen to greatness. Yaara Zard: We were talking about politics here a few minutes ago. You are not impressed by nice words. Sherry Roth: That's true, he is a politician. But I have already seen politicians who have risen to high office, and their noses have gone up... Yaara Zard: I still want to see what this government is doing... Sherry Roth: That's exactly it! Let's see what they are doing. The moment they touch a shekel from the yeshiva world budget, I will be the first to come to you and ask you to shout. A shekel! The yeshiva budget is already meager. Yaara Zard: You'll get the place. Sherry Roth: But if they come and say: Whoever doesn't study seriously, let's think about what to do with him, then OK, I have nothing to say about that. Yaara Zard: OK, let's see where it goes, we have to say at the very beginning. Sherry Roth: Right. At the very beginning.