Gearing Up for a Major Protest in Yerushalayim
This week, our overview of the latest news must begin with an upcoming event: the major protest planned against the draft law. A huge rally is tentatively scheduled to be held on Thursday at the entrance to the city of Yerushalayim. A massive demonstration of this nature at the entrance to Yerushalayim will paralyze the city. That is what happened at the previous rally, which was held on Rosh Chodesh Adar 5774/March 2, 2014, and had a similar impetus. That historic demonstration came in response to the draconian measures implemented by the Supreme Court and the draft law proposed at the time, which was intolerable to the chareidim. Ten days after the protest, the Knesset approved the same draft law.
In other news, one of the top stories in the Israeli news in recent days has been the sovereignty law passed in the Knesset and the resultant outrage in the American government. Prime Minister Netanyahu has promised not to allow the law to advance in the committee deliberations, and he has instructed his people in the Knesset to make sure that it is stalled. The standard procedure is for a bill to be prepared in a committee for its first reading in the Knesset, then transferred back to the committee, and then sent back to the Knesset for its second and third readings, at which point it is passed into law. Due to President Trump’s staunch opposition to this bill, Netanyahu hopes to stop it in its tracks.
Another major story concerns the deceased hostages whose remains still haven’t been recovered from Gaza. According to the agreement between Israel and Hamas, the terror group was supposed to return the 20 living hostages to Israel on Hoshana Rabbah and hand over the bodies of the deceased within 72 hours. However, Hamas has been dragging its feet on the second part of the agreement and returning only one or two bodies every few days. Netanyahu is threatening to launch a military offensive, which he is apparently entitled to do in any situation in which the agreement is breached. President Trump has been preventing an Israeli offensive and has been sending envoys to Israel at a rapid pace to make sure that the war does not resume. At the same time, Trump has been threatening Hamas in an effort to force them to comply with the agreement’s terms, while the terror group insists that they are making every effort to locate the bodies but it is difficult for them to do so, mainly because half of Gaza is lying in ruins. At the beginning of this week, Egypt sent heavy machinery to Gaza to help clear the rubble from areas where Hamas claims the bodies of hostages are located. This is a very sad situation by any measure.
Finally, I think the time has come for me to write some political news for your benefit. There are new players on the political field, with the next election apparently looming on the horizon. The latest polls have yielded some fascinating results, albeit with many pronounced inconsistencies. But all the polls have one thing in common: They all show that Netanyahu and the Likud party have gained significant strength since the hostages returned. Naftoli Bennett has returned to the political scene and is preparing to run again, and polls show him receiving many mandates, which is quite extraordinary. Everyone recognizes that Bennett betrayed his right-wing voter base when he last ran for office; it is hard to imagine who would vote for him now. Meanwhile, the Likud is trying to block Bennett from the field by passing a law that would bar anyone with outstanding debts to the government from running in an election. The government allocates funding for political parties in every election, and Bennett owes the state millions of shekels. Perhaps I will soon write about the political situation at greater length.
Attorney General Demands Draft Enforcement
In a separate article this week, I wrote at length about the relentless efforts of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to push for the draft of yeshiva bochurim and the arrests of Torah learners. She is constantly coming up with new ways to create hardships for the country’s Torah learners, and this week she devised yet another scheme, which would make their regular payments to the National Insurance Institute steeper and more onerous. What is most astonishing, however, is her letter to the prime minister. Baharav-Miara recently penned a letter to Netanyahu demanding stepped-up enforcement against the “criminals” dodging the draft, since she feels that the entire issue of “draft evasion” hasn’t been addressed. “This situation,” she wrote, “in which the burden of reserve service is very heavy and the security establishment maintains that it is necessary to lengthen the standard service, but the government is not using the means at its disposal to increase the enforcement of the obligation for the draft, is a severe blow to equality that cannot be justified legally. I hereby repeat my request for you to give instructions for an organized plan to be developed to increase enforcement.”
The attorney general’s letters have apparently crossed a red line, since Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs decided to respond sharply to this one. In a letter, Fuchs asserted that the attorney general’s approach of going after draft dodgers with full force has been a complete failure and has only harmed the cause. “The attorney general’s ongoing efforts to force the government, the prime minister, the defense minister, the chief of staff, and the head of the IDF Manpower Directorate to change the approach to drafting yeshiva students or defining the country’s defensive needs will not succeed,” he warned. “The defense echelon headed by the prime minister, who holds the authority and responsibility on this matter, understands the national defensive needs of this country during the War of Revival much better than the attorney general does. There is no greater evidence of this than the prime minister’s political and defensive maneuvering, which has changed the face of the Middle East, brought about unprecedented operational achievements on seven fronts, and brought home all the living hostages. With Hashem’s help, all the deceased hostages will be brought back as well.”
Fuchs’s letter moves on to a rebuke of the attorney general and her staff: “The attorney general’s strategy over the two years since the law expired to conscript chareidim into the IDF through force, with court rulings and arrests of yeshiva students, has been a colossal failure. According to the data in our possession, the conflict with the chareidi community that you have led, by establishing arrest targets directed specifically against yeshiva students while ignoring draft evaders from the general public, has caused a decrease in the volume of enlistment in the designated chareidi tracks, including the Chashmonaim Brigade. As you mentioned in your letter, the vast majority of yeshiva students who received draft orders have not appeared at the draft offices. In contrast, last year there was an increase of about 1000 additional conscripts from the broader chareidi public over previous years. These recruits approached the IDF on their own initiative, out of a desire to participate in the war effort, and they enlisted. The statistics that you mentioned in your letter from last July were incorrect.”
Fuchs’s Rebuke
It is astounding to read this blunt rebuke of the attorney general, which directly calls her out on her warped agenda. “You don’t really want to draft the chareidim,” Fuchs wrote pointedly. “Your goal is to create chaos in this country. What you are causing is the opposite of chareidi conscription.”
We know that he is right. But it is important to quote the letter in full, since it is a fascinating missive that gives us insight into the general mood in the government.
Fuchs continued, “The government’s position, which is supported by the defense establishment, is that the adjustment to the Law of Security Service (below: Amendment 26), which was advanced with full collaboration with the chareidi political leadership [presumably a reference to Yinon Azulai, Ariel Attias, and Uri Maklev, who serve on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and have been involved in the discussions with Bismut] must be advanced to its second and third readings as soon as possible. This is the only way to create increasing enlistment in the chareidi sector in accordance with the goals set down in the law, in light of the incentives, sanctions, and restrictions included in the law. At the same time, the government’s position, which is supported by the defense establishment, is that it is necessary to increase the duration of ordinary service to 36 months to meet the IDF’s needs in the coming years. The position of those who hold the authority and responsibility is the determining factor; therefore, this law will be completed shortly. As you know well, due to the substantial differences of opinion between the advisory entity (the attorney general’s office) and the decision-making authority (the government), the government has received separate representation before the Supreme Court regarding the expiration of the law, and the court’s ruling stated explicitly that the authority and responsibility for enforcement would rest with the IDF, which is also a respondent to these petitions, and not with the legal advisory department in the government. It is hereby proposed that the legal advisory department cease encroaching on the territory of the government and the IDF authorities on the matter of drafting chareidim by imposing means of coercion that do not accomplish anything. Instead, it should defend the government’s position on the subject of Amendment 26, which would bolster the army’s ranks with 10,000 chareidi soldiers within two years, while formalizing the status of Torah learners who have made Torah study their occupation.”
This was followed by a particularly withering statement: “The IDF needs soldiers on the battlefield, not in the military prisons.” This was a sharp indictment of everyone who has been involved in the persecution of bnei yeshivos. The cold, hard reality is that this ongoing harassment is not producing new soldiers. “In conclusion,” Fuchs wrote, ending his letter, “your various requests for the government to meddle with the decisions of the army authorities regarding the enforcement of the draft for yeshiva students are hereby rejected.”
IDF Probes Will Lead to a Political Earthquake
Half a year ago (on March 23, to be specific), Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who was then newly installed in his position, announced the formation of an external team to investigate the army’s failures prior to the disaster of October 7, 2023. The IDF spokesman announced at the time, “Out of the IDF’s deep commitment to processes of learning, efficiency, and improvement, especially during wartime, and for the purpose of analyzing and reviewing operational, professional, and organizational insights, the chief of staff has appointed an external team of senior reserve officers to examine and implement the conclusions of the probe into the events of October 7 conducted within the IDF.” An “external team” consists of people who are not currently serving in the IDF and are not dependent on any military or civilian authority for promotion, and who can therefore be presumed capable of issuing conclusions without fear of reprisal from anyone, including the chief of staff and the generals who headed the IDF at the time of the Simchas Torah massacre. The team was headed by Major General (res.) Sami Turjeman, a former commander of the ground forces and of the Southern Command. He was joined on the team by former Air Force Commander Major General (res.) Amikam Norkin, former Navy Commander Major General (res.) Eli Sharvit, and other senior figures, none of whom are currently in active service.
This week, the team is scheduled to present its findings to the chief of staff, and leaked reports have been circulating about the heads that are bound to roll when the report is presented. Most likely, the team will direct scathing criticism at the IDF’s investigations conducted thus far, especially their conclusions. For instance, a general who was promoted within the past year is, according to the team’s findings, responsible for a major failure prior to October 7. This general is Shlomi Binder, who replaced Aharon Chaliva as head of the Military Intelligence Directorate after the latter resigned due to his own role in the failures of October 7. At the time of the massacre, Binder was serving as head of the Operations Division, which was responsible for coordinating operational activities among the various branches of the army. By all accounts, this division failed to foster coordination, relay information, and maintain control during the initial hours of the attack. It is reported that the external team sharply criticized both the previous investigation into Binder’s actions and the fact that the previous chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, and the former minister of defense, Yoav Gallant, decided to promote Binder to his current position.
One more word on that issue: Binder told the team that he had done the maximum that was possible on the morning of October 7, since only partial information was provided to him by the Military Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet. He claimed that if he had received any warning at all, he would have acted differently and placed the army on alert at night, not at 6:29 in the morning. The same argument has been made by many other senior figures in the army’s operational division, who asserted that they would have acted differently if they had received information about the imminent catastrophe, and that they were uninformed rather than negligent. As usual, the blame game is afoot, with everyone accusing someone else of being at fault, when the truth is probably that they all deserve a share of the blame. Rumor has it that the team has rejected these arguments and concluded that additional actions could have been taken at the time, even with the partial information available.
One thing is certain: When the findings are published, there is going to be quite a stir.
Former Investigator Exposes Misconduct in Netanyahu Case
I haven’t written about the trial of Prime Minister Netanyahu in a long time, but this bizarre case is still underway. This week, Itamar Ben-Gvir told a reporter that he had been preparing to leave a cabinet session at 3:00 in the morning, after everyone else had left, when he noticed that the prime minister was still there. Ben-Gvir approached Netanyahu and asked him why he wasn’t going home to sleep, and Netanyahu replied, “I have to prepare for my trial in the morning.”
“This is pure insanity,” Ben-Gvir told his interviewer.
On a related note, the Knesset is working on a law that would allow a Knesset committee (although it is unclear which one) to halt the trial, which they have defined as “a bleeding wound in Israeli society.” The law, which would prohibit bringing criminal charges against a sitting prime minister, is certainly a sensible idea. Compounding the absurdity, Netanyahu’s lawyers asked the judges several days ago to allow him to testify only three days a week, but the request was rejected; the court insisted on having the prime minister appear for testimony four times a week.
The biggest bombshell, however, came from a different direction. There is a story that has been circulating for quite some time on social media and among knowledgeable individuals: An officer from the Department of Internal Police Investigations revealed some time ago that a senior investigator in the Netanyahu investigations approached him as a friend and claimed that there were serious flaws in the investigations and that he wanted to deliver testimony to the DIPI about them, but he insisted on immunity from prosecution. In other words, he wanted to expose the misconduct on the part of the police and prosecution, but he did not want to take the risk of being prosecuted in return. The DIPI officer relayed the request to the head of the DIPI, but she refused to grant immunity to the investigator. The officer suggested that he could at least record the investigator’s claims, but the DIPI director refused again, insisting that the investigator would be allowed to testify only if he used his full name. Since the investigator refused to accept those terms, the misconduct did not come to light. In other words, the DIPI actively prevented the exposure of a series of flaws, failures, and possibly even illegal actions in the investigations against Netanyahu.
Last Wednesday, the entire story came to light. Dovi Shertzer, the DIPI officer who first broke the story but refused to identify the investigator, decided that he was ready to divulge the other man’s identity. The investigator, he revealed, was Tzachi Chavkin, a member of the Lahav 433 investigative unit and one of the senior figures in the team handling the cases against Netanyahu. Following this revelation, Netanyahu’s legal team asked to call Chavkin to the stand as a witness for the defense. The prosecutors, who were stunned and frightened, asked the judges to delay Chavkin’s testimony and announced that they were considering asking the court to conduct a supplemental investigation following Shertzer’s testimony. This request was denied, and Chavkin took the stand and revealed what had troubled him in the investigation. First, he revealed that the prosecution engaged in complicated maneuvers to ensure that their probes revealed evidence only if it might be incriminating, while they tried to avoid any investigation that might point to Netanyahu’s innocence. Second, only Netanyahu was questioned under caution; no one else was interrogated in that fashion. Third, he revealed that the investigators were aware that a supposed meeting with Shlomo Filber, who was the director-general of the Ministry of Communications at the time, did not actually take place, but the charge sheet against Netanyahu claimed that it occurred. Finally, he attested that the prosecution took illegitimate steps to recruit state witnesses to testify against Netanyahu.
One of the three judges asked Chavkin, “Did you believe that red lines were crossed by this behavior?”
Chavkin replied, “I knew that something wasn’t right, but I didn’t speak with Dovi immediately. I had a number of concerns.”
The reason Shertzer revealed Chavkin’s identity now was that the latter finally gave his consent. Following his testimony, the speculation and rumors of misconduct in the investigation turned into solid facts that were even presented to the judges. This was a veritable earthquake in the court. Chavkin was a senior figure in the team investigating Case 1000, and he was also involved in several other high-profile investigations such as the submarine affair and the case against Olmert. This may well be an earth-shattering event in the trial.
A Shabbos Solution at the Kosel
By now, most American visitors who spent Yom Tov in Eretz Yisroel have already returned home. Nevertheless, the following story should still be of interest to anyone who visits Eretz Yisroel, and certainly to anyone who lives there.
The metal detectors at the entrances to the Kosel have been upgraded to permit visitors to approach the Kosel without concern of chillul Shabbos according to any opinions, even those of the most stringent poskim. The rov of the Kosel, Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz, has been working on this issue for several years and has met with leading poskim, especially Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl, the rov of the Old City of Yerushalayim.
In a recently publicized letter, Rav Rabinowitz wrote that due to a technological modification carried out by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, it is now possible to enter the Kosel plaza on Shabbos through the usual entrances even according to the most stringent views among the poskim. “The metal detectors at the entrances to the Kosel are placed on a special Shabbos mode that eliminates any lights or sounds,” the rov wrote. “The system uses a low, uninterrupted electric current that does not change due to the passage of a person, which Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach maintained is not considered chillul Shabbos in any way. Whenever a metal object passes through the opening, the electric current becomes more powerful and causes increased movement on a meter that is monitored by the guards. Thus, the magnet measures the quantity of metal carried by a person passing through the entrance. When the guards stationed at the entrance see the meter moving more than usual, they search the person who passed through the metal detector.”
Rav Rabinowitz explained that the halachic question pertaining to the use of the metal detectors in their usual mode was analyzed over twenty years ago and was approved by several leading poskim: Rav Yehoshua Neuwirth, Rav Moshe Halberstam, and yblch”t, Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl. These poskim ruled that there was no halachic objection to passing through those entrances on Shabbos, he pointed out, and the system hasn’t changed at all since that time. In addition, Rav Moshe Sternbuch wrote at the time, “Regarding the metal detectors placed at the entrance to the Kosel Hamaaravi, there does not appear to be any halachic prohibition in this matter. If a person wishes to be stringent in his personal observance, he can pass through the entrance without any metal on his body or clothing, and then there will certainly be no concern at all, since he will not be activating or doing anything.”
Nevertheless, the new arrangement makes it permissible for a person to pass through the metal detectors even according to the most stringent poskim, provided that he is not carrying a large quantity of metal on his body. A wristwatch, eyeglasses, a single key, or a small belt buckle will not pose a problem. In addition, removing metal objects from one’s person will likewise ensure that the entry is not problematic. Rav Yosef Efrati, who recently inspected the metal detectors together with Rav Rabinowitz, seconded the latter’s assertion that the devices will not react to the presence of a small quantity of metal on a person’s body, and it is therefore permissible to pass through the metal detectors even according to the stringent views of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and other poskim. However, if a visitor to the Kosel has a large quantity of metal on his body, such as the atarah of a tallis, this will affect the meter, and some poskim would rule that it should be avoided, although the majority of poskim permit this as well.
DIPI Covers Up for Police Brutality
The chareidi community has a longstanding score to settle with the Department of Internal Police Investigations. It is a known fact that the police tend to behave with brutality at demonstrations held by chareidim and members of the political right. They take advantage of the fact that most chareidim will not file complaints about police brutality, since most of the chareidim who are beaten at demonstrations belong to the communities that do not recognize the state and therefore do not lodge official complaints. There have been a few instances when complaints were filed, such as after a police officer shoved an elderly man in Meron, causing him to fall on his face and suffer injuries, or the case when a police officer slammed a chareidi child into a wall and then slapped him. In the few cases when complaints were filed with the DIPI, there was unmistakable video evidence of the violence, but the cases were closed!
The DIPI’s responses to these cases are appalling. In one incident, a chareidi man was hurt by a violent policeman, whose actions were filmed and broadcast repeatedly on social media. The videos elicited reactions of horror from everyone who saw them, including the chief of police. Nevertheless, Liat Kardi of the DIPI wrote to the victim, “I hereby inform you that after your complaint was evaluated, the director of the Yerushalayim investigations division has determined that there isn’t sufficient evidence that criminal acts were committed. Therefore, there is no basis for opening a criminal investigation.” In this case, the videos show police officers trampling on the complainants (and this is even before a policewoman was caught on video stomping on the head of a chareidi protestor who was lying on the ground). This is just one of a vast multitude of cases in which the DIPI investigators chose to close cases of chareidi complaints about police violence despite the presence of clear evidence. The list also includes the incident in Meron two years ago, when an elderly man was brutally shoved to the ground, and episodes of violence in recent protests directed both at chareidim and at right-wing demonstrators. When there are so many incidents of police violence, suffering chareidim, and DIPI refusals to investigate the cases, there can be only one conclusion, and it is very sad indeed.
Here is another item concerning the judicial system: A panel of Supreme Court justices headed by Noam Sohlberg recently rejected a petition arguing that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara should be barred from involvement in cases concerning former Shin Bet directors Ronen Bar and Nadav Argaman. Baharav-Miara’s husband, who was a senior figure in the Shin Bet before his illness, was a close friend of both of these men (and others as well). To their credit, it can at least be said that they supported him through his illness. Nevertheless, it was a foregone conclusion that the court would have to reject the argument that this constitutes a conflict of interest. Had the petitions been accepted, most of the judges on the Supreme Court would have been forced to recuse themselves from numerous cases for similar reasons, and even their membership in the Judicial Selection Committee would have been called into question.
Who Is Looking Out for Immigrants’ Religious Needs?
Last week, the media reported that over 3000 Jewish families had signed up for an aliyah fair organized by the Aliyah and Absorption Ministry, the Jewish Agency, and the World Zionist Federation. The fair featured dozens of stands representing Israeli government ministries, local authorities, and other entities involved in immigrant absorption. Its goal was to encourage immigration to Israel and to strengthen the ties of Diaspora Jewry to the State of Israel. The article added some noteworthy statistics: Since this past Rosh Hashanah, about 22,000 new immigrants have come to Israel, including about 2800 from France, 3200 from the United States, and 800 from the United Kingdom. Since October 7, 2023, nearly 5000 Jews have immigrated to Israel from France. During the event, Ophir Sofer, the minister of aliyah and immigrant absorption, launched a new campaign dubbed “Even Better,” whose purpose is to highlight the achievements of the State of Israel in the areas of economics, education, health, culture, and security, and thus to improve the state’s ties with Diaspora Jewry and encourage aliyah. Sofer added, “The State of Israel encourages the Jews of France and calls for them to return home. Paris has led the campaign to recognize a Palestinian state and thus reward our enemies. The appropriate Zionist response is to immigrate to our land.”
You may have noticed that any mention of Yiddishkeit, Judaism, mesorah, or Torah was painfully absent from his comments. Is this how immigration to the Jewish state is marketed to world Jewry? Everyone knows about the terrible campaign against religion in the early years of the state, and about the government’s reprehensible behavior toward the Jewish immigrants from northern Africa and Yemen, many of whom were torn away from Yahadus. One might expect things to be different today, when Israel has a right-wing government and the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption is managed by religious people. But who is determining the country’s policies on immigrant absorption? More to the point, was there anyone at this aliyah fair who could advise the potential immigrants on where to send their children to school? Were kiruv organizations represented at all? Were there at least any Israeli envoys who are religious? Who will ensure that the immigrant families will not be sucked into Israel’s secular society?
I fear that the campaign of secularization that began decades ago is continuing in our days as well, albeit with a yarmulke perched on its head!
Treif Meat Caught on the Road
This brings us to a similar point: The Ministry of Agriculture proudly reported once again that it managed to thwart an effort to smuggle unsupervised meat into an Israeli city. A large truck carrying 24,000 tons of beef, which was not supervised by the government or certified to meet official health standards, was apprehended on its way from Yerushalayim to Beer Sheva. The meat presumably originated in East Yerushalayim or Mishor Adumim and was located through a joint effort of the Agriculture Ministry, the Health Ministry, and the Border Guard. This is a huge quantity of meat, which was confiscated and destroyed in accordance with a decision made by government health and veterinary officials. The two ministries warned the public that any food brought into Israeli territory without meeting the legal requirements constitutes a public health threat, and that food items should be purchased only in closed, clean, original packages bearing labels in accordance with the law.
At this point, though, I must ask my usual question: What about the Jewish angle? What about the lack of kashrus supervision on the smuggled meat? After all, this was a shipment of meat that was completely treif, and one must wonder what its final destination would have been. After it reached Beer Sheva, was it meant to be sold in Bedouin villages in the south, or would it also have reached Jewish-owned stores? And how would the products have been labeled? Would it have been clear that the meat was treif, or would Jewish consumers have been misled into believing that it was kosher? Based on past experience, I tend to suspect that the unscrupulous vendors had every intent of deceiving innocent customers who are willing to rely on the most rudimentary kashrus certification—or perhaps even to forge the seal of a recognized kashrus agency, which is a crime on the books in the State of Israel even if the authorities tend to turn a blind eye to it.
In short, my question is this: Why was it only the Ministry of Agriculture that was involved in apprehending this meat, and why wouldn’t the Chief Rabbinate have been involved as well? Where was the concern for the religious standards jeopardized by this unauthorized shipment of meat?
