Yesterday there was a giant rally of Orthodox Jews in New York opposing efforts to require their religious counterparts in Israel to perform military service. News reports say 20-30,000 men filled Foley Square.
As you will see in the (suitably black-and-white) photos a friend sent, below, and in the news items that follow, there were strong anti-Zionist strains in the demonstration.
Demo in NY
“Orthodox Jews Will Proudly Go to Jail…”
“… Rather than Join the Zionist Army”
Demo 2
A Flyer at the rally
Flyer highlighted
This report at the World Jewish Congress emphasizes the efforts to suppress anti-Zionist strains at the demonstration:
Tens of thousands of Jews protested in New York City on Sunday against plans by Israel to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the IDF. The mass rally in Manhattan’s Foley Square drew an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 participants mainly from New York’s Hassidic community. Almost all protestors were men. Some 2,000 rabbis sat on special platform, and 300 NYPD policemen secured the event.
Protesters held signs which read “The Israeli draft law is an attack on freedom of religion”, and one speaker portrayed the conscription effort as only the latest in a series of failed attempts throughout history to destroy Judaism. Demonstrators were mostly from two factions of Satmar Hasidim, an anti-Zionist sect within the ultra-Orthodox community whose members are typically are at odds but came together on this issue. Recently, Satmar leader Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum said enlistment was worse than the annihilation of the Jewish people.
Organizers tried to hide anti-Zionist sentiments and focus only on the anti-draft message during the two-hour rally. Speakers on the stage repeatedly asked the crowd to put away any signs with messages against the State of Israel, and there were at least three cases in which protesters physically took down anti-Zionist signs held up by other protestors, according to a ‘Forward’ report.
The Forward report came out last week and warned about these anti-Zionist messages:
Posters advertising a massive ultra-Orthodox rally scheduled for this Sunday in Manhattan employ highly inflammatory language against Israel and the Israeli army.
“The evil rulers in the Holy Land want to incite and seduce young men and teenagers to acquiesce to idol worship and to participate in the impure army,” reads one Yiddish and Hebrew poster, a digital copy of which was obtained and translated by the Forward.
Oh and here’s the writing on the wall passage from Daniel V, King Belshazzar’s feast.
I find it hard to believe that Haredim will ever be drafted in any significant numbers in Israel — if only because there will be so many resisters and dodgers, that the entire effort would be far more trouble than it’s worth (not to mention the hassle in actually trying to turn masses of unfit, unskilled, under-educated young men into soldiers for “the modern battlefield”), and because this government may not need the Haredi parties, but the next one will.
Of course Satmar has its own agenda (as do the Haredi parties, leaders, institutions and public in Israel), but a far more coherent battle would be for freedom of religion and conscience when it comes to the draft. No more Natan Blancs!
More writing on the wall:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4nckmHD9s1rtx8s4o1_1280.jpg
Of course, to a non-believer, both sides in this Israeli dispute are a bit weird.
On one side we have a certain type of “ultra-Orthodox” that does not like to deviate from the lifestyle when men are engaged in reading parchas and writing commentaries, plus occasional morality patrols in their communities, and women are engaged with domestic duties, some gainful employment and at occasion, when urged by their leaders, in demonstrations (normally a male task, but special situations require special solutions). Why would you rather read parchas than, say, Japanese cartoons or comments at Mondoweiss? A bit weird taste, but otherwise the conduct of ultra-Orthodox is perfectly rational.
On the other side we have “national” and “national-religious” camp for which military service is an ultimate act of worship. At stake is the unity of Jewish minds, almost as important as “reclaiming the land”. There are also budget considerations: ultras manage to get a lot of support from the state and pay rather little taxes. (Some are actually rich, but you need to have a middle class to collect taxes). So far, ultras were necessary partners in forming governments, and since their demands were few and clear, they were getting what they needed. However, not only the goals of the national are bit weird to me (unity of minds sounds suspiciously like Buddhist nirvana, and I am not a Buddhist), but also their means.
Clearly, ultras are not suited for modern warfare. Tasks like manning checkpoints, patrols around the settlements, escorting settlers who want to have some fun in Palestinian villages and towns, cutting trees, rounding up the sheep and bicyclists etc. require a much higher degree of discipline than the ultras are willing to deliver. Of course, one could cut welfare for draft dodgers, which would provide savings to the budget, but the result would be that ultra youngsters would enlist and then refuse to follow military discipline. Imagine a check point manned by ultras reading their parchas while Palestinians pass by unmolested. It becomes a pointless check point, something deeply troubling if you learned geometry in school. So the nationals have to be prepared to suffer deep cognitive dissonance in the future. So the nationals do not seem to be rational at all.
Gotta love it. Service in the IOF is worse than the holocaust. Because it is a sin (of Jews) whereas the holocaust was (at worst) a sin of non-Jews. Does that mean that the activities of the IOF are a sin, irrespective of whether orthodox Jews are require3d to serve in it? I’d say so, but who am I to argue Jewish law? And what does Jewish law have to do with Israel, anyway? Or international law? Or law, generally?
For people who want to educate themselves on the reasons why these Orthodox Jews have a serious problem with Zionism since 1897,can read up on the site given on one of the posters;
http://www.TrueTorahJews.com
You don’t have to be a (religious) Jew ,to read their arguments.
It might help you understand why Arab neighbours are not too interested in peace with Israel.
I think Mr.Weiss forgot to link that site,since all the other(Zionist) sites are linked.