Netanyahu Rises in the Polls
Not even a single week has passed since Netanyahu’s speech to Congress in the United States, but it already seems to have receded into the past. Nevertheless, at the risk of rehashing old news, I would like to revisit the topic. I assume that you are more or less aware of what Netanyahu said and the number of times the audience stood up for him, applauded for him, or did both at once. Someone was able to determine that the ovations during his speech took a total of ten minutes out of his 40-minute time slot, but I am certain that Netanyahu had no objection to that. He spoke cogently and to the point, and Israeli officials determined that Netanyahu can certainly check off all of his goals for the speech, especially causing the world to internalize that Iran is the source of evil. One might say that Netanyahu managed to remind the public about the division of good and evil in the Middle East.
Why did Nancy Pelosi claim that Netanyahu’s speech was “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States”? We have no way of knowing the answer to that question. The only logical explanation is that Pelosi is blinded by her hatred and revulsion for Netanyahu and for Israel. We also have no explanation for the fact that Kamala Harris felt the need to denounce the fighting in Gaza after her meeting with Netanyahu, or that some Democrats chose to boycott Netanyahu. Some things will simply remain mysteries to us.
Here in Israel, the consensus is that Netanyahu’s speech was a great success and brought pride to the Jewish people and to Israel. Interestingly, Netanyahu had no qualms about using the words “G-d bless America” in his speech. Or perhaps I should say that did not have the audacity to refrain from making that declaration, which is the standard practice among non-Jewish speakers as well.
Netanyahu’s speech had an immediate impact on the political polls in Israel. The Likud and Benny Gantz’s party are now tied in the polls, while Gantz had been leading Netanyahu significantly prior to the speech. The polls also show Lieberman’s party, Yisroel Beiteinu, enjoying a sharp increase in its popularity, while Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) is plummeting. Incidentally, based on the current division of votes between the right-wing and left-wing blocs, it seems most likely that if an election were held today, Netanyahu would once again be voted in as prime minister with the support of a solid coalition. However, there are other variables that must be taken into account. The situation might change if Naftoli Bennett decides to return to politics and to run together with Lieberman (a scenario that might be in the works, given that the two of them publicized a picture this week that shows them sitting together). It is also possible that Yossi Cohen, the former head of the Mossad, might run together with the right (although he announced this week that he decided to remain out of politics for the next two years). The bottom line is that many believe that Netanyahu’s speech to Congress was the turning point that can send him soaring back to the top.
The polls this week yielded some interesting answers to another question as well. When the respondents were asked whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris would be better for Israel, 20 percent replied that they did not know, 17 percent felt that Harris would be better, and 63 percent felt that Trump would be more beneficial. I will allow you to draw any conclusions you desire from that information.
Five Bodies Brought Back to Israel for Burial
As usual, I have many stories to write about. For instance, I could write about Ariel Topaz, the IDF officer from Bnei Brak who was seriously wounded in the ramming attack at Nir Tzvi, near Beer Yaakov. Unfortunately, Topaz has died from his wounds. Another officer in the IDF, Noam Douek, died in Gaza after inhaling poisonous fumes released by a generator.
Then there is the potential hostage deal, which has remained a major issue. Every incident that has occurred, whether it was Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, the comments of the United States presidential candidates on the situation in Israel, or the massacre in Majdal Shams, has been immediately examined and analyzed to determine whether it increased or decreased the chances of a deal materializing. This week, the Supreme Court held another hearing to discuss the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, and the judges refused to let the bereaved parents of IDF soldiers speak. The father of a hostage in Gaza, Tzvika Mor, delivered a speech in the courtroom after the judges left the chamber. Mor, who is also the subject of a separate article this week, grew choked with emotion several times while he spoke.
Meanwhile, the bodies of five Israelis who were murdered on Simchas Torah were retrieved from Gaza and brought to a Jewish burial. The bodies were located during an IDF raid in Khan Yunis, where they were found in black bags. The raid was based on information received by the Military Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet. The IDF has conducted similar operations in the past, although the soldiers discovered at the time that they had retrieved the bodies of Palestinian residents of Gaza rather than Israeli victims of terror.
The identities of the individuals whose remains were retrieved in this operation were publicized by the IDF. Maya Goren, a 56-year-old woman from Nir Oz, was the wife of Avner, who was likewise murdered on October 7. Ravid Aryeh Katz, aged 51, was a father to three children and the husband of Revital; he, too, lived in Nir Oz and served as a member of the community’s security squad and was murdered on October 7. Katz’s sister was abducted along with her daughters; they were released in November in a prisoner exchange deal. Oren Goldin, aged 33, was a resident of Nir Yitzchok and a member of the security squad who was murdered on October 7. The last two victims whose bodies were retrieved were twenty-year-old Tomer Achimas of Lehavim and nineteen-year-old Kiril Brodski of Ramat Gan, two IDF soldiers who were killed on October 7 in Kibbutz Nirim.
Complaints Pay Off
This brings me to a related topic: two articles that appeared in the news in Yerushalayim last week. The first article related that Police Superintendent Shachar Machsomi will be facing a disciplinary hearing after it was revealed that he had used brass knuckles against protestors while dispersing a demonstration. This incident occurred about a year ago, during a chareidi protest in the vicinity of the Chords Bridge at the entrance to Yerushalayim, where Machsomi was filmed striking one of the protestors in the abdomen with this weapon. The video evidence led the Department of Internal Police Investigations to open an inquiry into his conduct, which led to the decision to file an indictment against him. The complaint was filed by the organization B’Tsalmo.
The second article revealed that the DIPI has recommended an indictment against a police officer who was filmed pulling the beard and peyos of a protestor at the Yitzhar junction two years ago. At that time, a group of Israeli demonstrators were protesting the security situation in the area. This time, the complaint was filed by Honenu, but the case was closed by the courts. Attorney Eladi Wiesel appealed the decision, submitting the video evidence and describing the defendant’s brutality in detail. “The protestors, including the complainant, tried to make their way to the junction in order to stage their protest at a more central and noticeable location,” he explained. “The complainant attempted to cross the street and pass the police officers, but they prevented him from doing so. At that point, an argument began between the complainant and the police officers, who ordered him to leave the area and even attempted to shove him. The defendant suddenly grabbed the complainant’s beard and pulled on it with great force. The complainant screamed in pain, but in spite of his screams, the defendant continued pulling his beard, as well as his peyos, to drag him to the sidewalk.” Wiesel revealed that the policeman’s version of the story—which maintained that he did not pull the protestor’s beard and that the protestor did not cry out in pain—had been refuted by the DIPI investigators, who watched the footage of the incident and wrote down their findings. Wiesel also noted that the officer’s claim that the defendant had attacked a policeman had been refuted as well, and that the policewoman who was recording the incident had turned off her camera in an effort to keep his actions undocumented.
The moral of these stories is that it is necessary to complain about the excesses of the police. That isn’t to say that there is any reason to expect the judges to take appropriate action; after all, we saw that the policemen who beat Chaim Mizrachi on Rechov Malchei Yisroel went unpunished for their actions. Nevertheless, the fact that the officers are placed under investigation and facing potential reprimand should at hopefully serve as some measure of deterrence.
Massacre in a Soccer Field
Once again, when Shabbos ended this week, we were informed of a catastrophic incident. At least 11 children had been killed and five seriously wounded, among them four members of a single family, when a rocket hit a soccer field in the Druse community of Majdal Shams in the northern Golan Heights late on Shabbos afternoon. Menachem Begin often would quote a line written by an Israeli poet: “The soton has yet to create the vengeance for the death of a small child.” This motzoei Shabbos, that line was widely quoted once again. A few hours after the news first broke, the death toll rose to twelve. The pictures of twelve children lying in a soccer field, their bodies wrapped in preparation for their burials, were painful to behold. There is another child who is missing at this time, and it is presumed that he was actually the 13th fatality and that his body disintegrated completely due to the rocket strike. There is no other possible explanation for his disappearance. How frightening!
To give you a better understanding of the full picture, a bit of explanation about the Druse is in order. The Druse are not Jewish, nor are they Christian, nor are they exactly Muslim. There are Druse in Syria and Lebanon as well, and they consider themselves brethren with each other. The Druse in Israel serve in the army, but the Israeli authorities take great care to ensure that they do not become entangled in conflicts with their brethren in the Arab cities. If anyone offends a Druse individual anywhere, all the Druse will rally to defend him.
To give you an example of the Druse community’s internal loyalty, let me tell you a story that took place two years ago. Tiran Faro, a Druse teenager approaching his eighteenth birthday, was seriously injured in a road accident in the Palestinian Authority after driving there with a friend to have his car repaired. Tiran was rushed to a hospital in Jenin, where he was abducted by armed men belonging to the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade. According to his family, he was alive when he was kidnapped, although his condition was critical enough that he died after being disconnected from the medical equipment in the hospital. Mistaking the youth for an IDF soldier, the terrorists abducted him in the hope that they could negotiate with Israel for the release of his body. The Druse in Israel wanted the body returned immediately, but they didn’t have anyone to confront with that demand; the Palestinian Authority does not control the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. The Druse leader therefore announced in the media that if the body wasn’t returned by the next morning, Jenin would burn; he warned that the entire community of Daliat al-Carmel, where Tiran had lived, would enter Jenin with guns blazing. On that same day, four busloads of Arab workers from Jenin arrived at Daliat al-Carmel, but the buses were blocked from entering the Druse settlement, and the residents warned the workers that no Arab worker would be permitted to enter Israeli territory from Jenin the next day. Any worker who dared to enter the country, they added, would be killed by the Druse. This would have been a massive blow to the Arab city, since tens of thousands of workers from Jenin entered Israel every day. In the end, the body was returned in the middle of the night with the help of the UN. That is how the Druse community operates.
It is therefore not surprising that Hezbollah did not accept responsibility for the terror attack, even though they would usually rush to claim credit for killing twelve Israelis and would boast about the massacre. In fact, they actually denied responsibility for the strike. Hezbollah claimed that they had aimed their rocket at a military base and suggested that the IDF interception had caused the rocket to land in the soccer field. “We have no connection to this incident,” a senior figure in Hezbollah insisted.
But even if the missile wasn’t intentionally aimed at Majdal Shams, it was certainly directed at the area. The missile was identified as an Iranian-made Falaq 1 rocket carrying a warhead with a weight of about 50 kilograms. If it wasn’t meant to target Majdal Shams, then it was most likely aimed at the nearby Jewish community of Neve Ativ or any of the military bases in the area. Regardless of who fired the missile, they must have known that there was a possibility that it would strike a Druse community. Hezbollah’s denials were intended to prevent an internal conflict in Lebanon between the terror group and the Druse populace. They are well aware of the mutual responsibility and support that exists within the Druse community, which transcends the borders between countries.
Netanyahu Vows to Take Action
The deadly strike on the soccer field was a tragedy of massive proportions. The Druse community in Israel was plunged into grief and declared two days of national mourning. Netanyahu, who was in America at the time, announced that he was moving up his departure and took off before Shabbos ended. He landed in Israel on Sunday morning and headed directly to the Kirya in Tel Aviv. Netanyahu contacted the spiritual leader of the Druse community, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, and expressed his profound horror over Hezbollah’s massacre of innocent children. On behalf of the people of Israel, the prime minister asked the sheikh to convey his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and the entire Druse community. He made it clear that Israel would not allow the murderous attack to pass in silence, and that Hezbollah would pay a heavy price for its actions.
There was a broad consensus in Israel that the attack demanded an unprecedented response. If a single fatality in Tel Aviv was enough to prompt an attack on Yemen, then one would imagine that the response to the deaths of twelve children should be many times fiercer. On the other hand, Israel might not be interested in a war in the north at this time.
The IDF claimed that the missile was Hezbollah’s response to the elimination of several Radwan fighters in Kfar Kila earlier in the day, and that the IDF was prepared for the response. IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the rocket had been launched somewhere to the north of the village of Shebaa in southern Lebanon. In response to Hezbollah’s claims that they were not responsible, Hagari said, “They are lying. They are responsible for killing these children, and we will respond accordingly.” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant took advantage of Netanyahu’s absence from the country to hold a situation assessment together with the chief of staff and the directors of the Mossad and the Shin Bet. After that meeting, the defense minister told the media, “We presented our options for acting against Hezbollah, and the defense establishment has received instructions.” A senior Israeli official was also quoted in Sky News as asserting, “The response will be fierce, but we are not interested in being dragged into an all-out war.” Nevertheless, none of these officials are actually authorized to make these decisions, which are only within the jurisdiction of the prime minister and the cabinet. Gallant does not have any say in the matter, and his relationship with the prime minister, as well as with his colleagues in the Likud party, is at an all-time low.
Mounting Fears of War in the North
The world is concerned about a fierce Israeli response that might ignite the Middle East. During a campaign rally in Minnesota, Donald Trump said, “The Hezbollah attack was carried out with an Iranian missile. Our hearts go out to the families of the children who were murdered; no parent should have to suffer the loss of a child to terrorists.”
Josep Borrell, the foreign minister of the European Union, condemned the massacre but did not mention either Israel or Hezbollah. “Shocking images from the soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams,” Borrell wrote. “I strongly condemn this bloodbath. We need an independent international investigation into this unacceptable incident. We urge all parties to exercise utmost restraint and avoid further escalation.”
To make a long story short, the world is warning Israel to temper its reaction. There are fears that Israel will respond strongly, since no one could possibly object to a fierce response to this horrific massacre. At the same time, while Israeli officials proclaim that Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for the bloodbath, the Iranians have warned Israel not to respond. “We are warning Israel against any new adventurism against Lebanon on the pretext of the incident in Majdal Shams,” they announced. “Israel bears the main responsibility for any unexpected responses to its foolish actions.”
The international media, which has been covering the events closely, also hurried to express fears of an inevitable escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, and the outbreak of a full-fledged war in Lebanon. “The attack sharply escalated the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and increases the concerns about an all-out war between the two sides,” an article in Reuters reported. CNN described the incident similarly, angering Israeli officials with their refusal to state outright that the children were murdered by terrorists. Given their track record, they might ultimately decide to pin the blame for the incident on Israel.
America Sanctions Israeli Settlers
The Department of the Treasury and the Department of State of the United States announced last week that sanctions were to be imposed on three Israeli settlers: Reut Ben-Chaim (one of the founders of the organization known as Tzav 9, which works to block aid trucks from reaching Chaza), Yissochor Mann, and Aviad Shlomo Sarid. The government also imposed sanctions on the right-wing organization Lehava and on the illegal outposts Chavat Meitarim, Neriah’s Farm, and Chavat Mann. The announcement explained that Lehava is affiliated with Bentzi Gopstein, who was subjected to US sanctions several weeks ago. “Lehava has become the most extreme and violent organization in Israel, with over 10,000 registered members,” the Department of State explained. The statement added that Yissachar Mann was involved in violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank and that Mann had built his outpost in southern Har Chevron after taking over the property of the Palestinian community. “Settlers from the outpost attack Palestinian shepherds and are preventing them from reaching the pastures for their livestock,” the American statement explained.
Another person who appears on the sanctions list is Aviad Shlomo Sarid, a resident of Revavah in the Shomron, who was sanctioned for his alleged activities as a member of the Tzav 9 movement. However, a few hours after the American statement was released, it was revealed that the person who was sanctioned has been serving in the IDF reserves since the beginning of the war and is stationed on the northern front and has no connection to Tzav 9. He simply happens to share the name of Shlomo Sarid, a resident of the Jordan Valley who serves as volunteer coordinator for Tzav 9. This was an error on the part of the American government, or perhaps the informant who gave the names to them. (In most cases, there are Israelis who collaborate with American intelligence.)
Of course, I must also mention Elor Azariah. Remember him? Eight years after Elor shot a terrorist to death in Chevron when he was already lying on the ground, the United States chose to ban him and his family from entering American territory. According to the statement released by the US Department of State, “The Department of State is taking further action today to promote accountability for gross violations of human rights and actions that undermine peace, security, or stability in the West Bank. We are designating Elor Azaria … for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, namely an extrajudicial killing in the West Bank. As a result of this action, Azaria and any immediate family members are generally ineligible for entry into the United States.”
Israeli officials feel that the individuals whom the Americans decided to sanction are minor players, and others are responsible for igniting conflict. Netanyahu reportedly raised this issue during his visit to Washington, but as you are surely aware, when the State Department makes a decision, it is impossible to change their minds.
An Almost Perfect Hillula and a Vicious Policeman
With all due respect to Netanyahu in Congress and Trump in Florida, there was a more significant event this past Thursday: the hillula of the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh. Thousands of came to Har Hazeisim, to the gravesite of the Ohr Hachaim, and demonstrated once again that the chareidi community can manage its own events if it is left alone by the government and the authorities. Much credit for the successful event is due to Tzuriel Krispel, director-general of the Council of Cemeteries, and to Religious Affairs Minister Michoel Malchieli and the director-general of the ministry, Yehuda Avidan. As usual, however, there were a couple of exceptions to the rule: There was an insolent young man wearing a yarmulke who became violent and was removed immediately, and there was a police officer who stood at the entrance to a bus and slapped every elderly man who climbed its steps. The officer was clearly a fiend who somehow managed to make it through the screening process for police recruits without revealing his violent tendencies (unless, of course, violence is actually a positive criterion for a potential recruit for the police force).
This incident took place on Sunday afternoon, sometime around 3:30 p.m. (since the yungerman who told me the story was back at his seat in Yeshivas Mir at 4:00). Many visitors to the tziyun of the Ohr Hachaim arrived on the 51a bus run by the Egged bus company, which dropped them off at the entrance to the ramp leading to the tziyun. Each bus, after discharging its passengers, continued up the road, made a U-turn, and then pulled up on the opposite side of the street to admit passengers returning from the tziyun. For some reason, the police placed barriers in the middle of the road, and several Border Guard officers were responsible for removing a barrier and herding the passengers through the narrow space between the remaining barriers whenever a bus arrived. I am sure you can imagine the scene of 200 people waiting for a bus and then being crammed into a narrow space that has been opened for them to allow them to cross the street. There was some jostling, some of the elderly men struggled to get through the crowd, and younger passengers pushed their way to the front of the line. Each bus would remain in place until it was full and then would continue on its way. One yungerman didn’t manage to push through the crowd in time, and he pleaded with a Border Guard officer to allow him to get to the bus, which his two brothers had already boarded. “Get back!” the officer ordered him gruffly in response.
At one point, two more buses pulled up, but each bus was already occupied by numerous passengers, to the surprise of the waiting mispallelim. It soon became clear that there was a bus stop at the top of the road as well, and some of the mispallelim had decided to climb the hill and wait there, where they were certain they would find seats on the bus. Once again, the same scene repeated itself: The policemen moved the barriers apart and ordered the waiting passengers to hurry across the street and to board the buses. Once again, there were some elderly men who were struggling to make it through the crowd, and the pressure was mounting. A higher-ranking officer instructed the policemen over a loudspeaker to stand back and to allow the people to cross the road on their own, rather than shoving them. Most of the policemen complied, but two or three of the men decided to stand next to the bus, as if to preserve the order. One of those policemen turned out to be cruel to the point that he seemed mentally disturbed. Every elderly man who tried to board the bus tasted his wrath; he first grasped the man’s neck and nearly choked him, and then finished “helping” him board the bus by delivering a stinging slap.
“I am willing to swear that that is what happened,” the eyewitness told me. “It was shameful and infuriating. If I had been more courageous, I would have struck him back. The policeman was absolutely malicious. The people were shocked by his actions, and some of the passengers moved to the rear door to board the bus. When the bus was full and the doors closed, the policeman rejoined his friends. We could see through the window that he was boasting about his actions and laughing heartily, and that his friends laughed along with him. An elderly Sephardic man who had come from outside Yerushalayim was sitting next to me, with tears streaming from his eyes. He had received a fierce slap from the policeman, and he was shocked and in pain. ‘They hate religious people more than they hate terrorists,’ he said to me. We both watched as the police officer shook with uncontrollable laughter on the other side of the street.”
“Did you see his name?” I asked.
“Yes,” the yungerman replied. “The policeman who was laughing wore a badge with the name Uri Ezra, but I can’t be absolutely certain that he was the one who actually dealt the blows, although I am 99 percent certain of it. Everyone agreed that he was the culprit. An Ashkenazic man who stood next to me said, ‘I recognize him from the protests in Yerushalayim as well. He is always violent and abusive. I returned from that experience feeling dejected,” he added. “If you had seen it, you would have wept.”
There will always be a couple of troublemakers at any major event, and the hillula of the Ohr Hachaim, in general, was a respectable event with only minimal mishaps. The issue of the violent police officer has been referred to Tzuriel Krispel to be handled accordingly.
The Delayed Visa
Speaking of America and the Department of State, let me share a personal story from this week with you. Rav Yehuda Weisbecker, one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivas Bais Mattisyohu, flew to America this past motzoei Shabbos. He was planning to take a traveling companion along with him on this trip—none other than my own son, who is a talmid in the yeshiva. However, my son was ultimately unable to accompany him, since he lacked a visa.
Now, how did it happen that my son didn’t have a visa to the United States? Is he really so disorganized? The answer is no. In fact, he is quite the opposite.
This is the story: Ever since America and Israel signed the agreement that exempts Israeli tourists from procuring a visa, a new procedure has been set in place. An Israeli citizen who wishes to travel to America is now required to submit a request on the website of the American embassy. A response is typically received within half a day, and the response is generally positive. A visa procured in this fashion remains valid for two years. Of course, my son dutifully submitted his request as soon as he was asked last Thursday to accompany the rosh yeshiva on his trip, but to his great surprise and dismay, he did not receive a response that day, nor did a reply arrive on Friday. The travel agent, a woman named Mrs. Samson who is known as an expert in her field, had a hypothesis as to the reason. About a year ago, before the visa exemption came into effect, my son was asked to accompany the late rosh yeshiva, Rav Boruch Weisbecker, on a trip to America. For that purpose, the travel agent submitted a copy of his passport to the embassy in Tel Aviv to apply for a visa. When the visa was approved (which was generally done only for about half the applicants at that time), he was asked to bring his passport to the embassy to sign the visa, which would be valid for ten years. In the interim, however, the rosh yeshiva’s health declined and he canceled his trip. My son saw no reason to travel to Tel Aviv and to spend time procuring a visa when his travel plans had been canceled, and he let the matter slide. The travel agent presumed that his request on the web site had set off a red light somewhere, as the computer noted that he had been issued a visa previously and hadn’t bothered to get it. This is undoubtedly a rare occurrence in the American embassy.
Of course, I didn’t take this lying down. I contacted everyone I knew with any connection to the embassy—Aryeh Deri and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel; Rabbi Davis, the well-connected aide of Meir Porush; and even Yitzchok and Pinchos Shapiro, the brothers who are known to have close connections to the embassy. I even reached the ambassador. The problem, however, was that I could do nothing on Shabbos and the Americans do not work on Sunday, and if I waited until Monday, then one could assume that a response would come from the website in any event, since they promise to respond within 72 working hours.
Sure enough, that is exactly what happened. At 4:00 in the morning on Monday, a positive response appeared on the web site. How did that happen? Who is at work at such an hour on any day, especially at the end of a Sunday night, when Americans do not work? Or was the response automatic? But in that case, why did it take so long?
The bottom line is that all is well that ends well. If you see Rav Yehuda Weisbecker in New York or New Jersey—keeping in mind that he is one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivas Bais Mattisyohu, one of the most prestigious yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel—then you can feel free to give regards to the charming young bochur who is serving as his traveling companion. That young man is my son. And you might also tell Rav Yehuda that he has inherited many things from his illustrious father, including my unfettered admiration.
Knesset Recess Begins
The Knesset ended its summer assembly this Sunday. Its final sitting on Sunday was supposed to continue into Monday, but it was cut short due to the funerals in Majdal Shams. There is much to write about the three months of the Knesset’s summer session, but perhaps I should begin by mentioning that the leaders of the opposition (and the media as well) predicted that the government would not survive the summer. Well, it seems that they were wrong.
But let me give you a glimpse into what the Knesset is all about, and how meager its influence tends to be. The city of Modiin Illit (Kiryat Sefer) is a prominent chareidi city, with a plethora of shuls and botei medrash that reverberate with a powerful kol Torah. The Shas party has repeatedly stood up for this city’s rights. For instance, there is an entire neighborhood in Modiin Illit whose residents imagined during the winter months that they had relocated to Venice, the city famed for its canals, given that the streets became perpetually flooded with water, and the Shas party took up their cause, demanding better infrastructure in the area. Similarly, when it was revealed that the fence separating a neighborhood in Modiin Illit from its Palestinian neighbors was flimsy and porous, the Shas party leapt to the residents’ aid. And then there was the insufficient power grid, which developed a tendency to crash on erev Shabbos; in fact, this week there was a major power outage on Shabbos, which left thousands of homes without electricity.
Another major problem in Modiin Illit is the fact that the city has only one entrance, a road that runs from the Shilat junction to the city. Several years ago, major construction took place there, and I expected to see that the road had been expanded to contain two lanes in each direction; however, that was not the case. The roadwork did nothing but expand the shoulders of the road. Even now, massive traffic jams are a daily occurrence at the entrance to the city, and the residents’ suffering is intolerable. The residents of Modiin Illit have repeatedly appealed to the Shas party to take action and to see to it that the entrance road is widened and that an additional entrance to the city is built. In fact, I am sure that Modiin Illit is the only city in the world with only a single entrance.
On Wednesday, 9 Tammuz 5783/2023, MK Avrohom Betzalel (Shas) responded to their pleas and submitted a motion for the agenda with the opening line, “The residents of Modiin Illit, the only city in the world with a single entrance, are frequently under siege or stuck for hours in traffic on their way to the city.” The session was chaired by MK Yisroel Eichler, who felt strongly about the subject as well. Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev, who delivered the government’s response, was also enthusiastic. But this took place a full year ago, and nothing has been done since then!
Betzalel delivered a long speech, elaborating on the residents’ hardship. “The road leading from the Shilat junction to Modiin Illit is Route 446,” he said. “Along most of this road, there is only one lane in each direction, which creates an intolerable situation. Even on an ordinary day and at an ordinary time, when there is no unusual incident on the road, traffic is at a standstill from 6:30 until 10:00 in the morning at the earliest, and in the afternoon and evening as well. It should take only a few minutes to drive to Modiin Illit on this road, but it can often take an hour or more. And that is especially true on erev Shabbos and erev Yom Tov. The situation is simply intolerable. This is a city with over 84,000 residents.”
Betzalel praised the mayor of the city and ended his speech with an appeal to the deputy minister: “I would like to ask the deputy minister and the transportation minister to do something. The time has come to stop this terrible distress suffered by so many residents. I ask for this matter to be dealt with as quickly as possible.”
Maklev’s response quoted professional sources who claimed that the problem might be resolved, but no earlier than the year 2026. Regarding the request for an additional entrance to the city, he pointed out that this matter has been discussed in planning committees (which have nothing to do with the Ministry of Transportation) since the year 2002. The Knesset then decided by majority vote to transfer the issue to the Interior Committee for discussion. Unfortunately, a year has passed and the committee still hasn’t seen fit to hold this discussion, which they are legally required to do.
That is the story, and it speaks volumes about the Knesset.
