War
Major Iftah Shahar and Captain Itai Seif
Two more soldiers, Maj. Iftah Shahar, 25 and Cpt. Itai Seif, 24, were killed on Wednesday in north Gaza. Seven other soldiers were seriously injured in the fighting.
This brings the total killed since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct 7th to 582. 2981 soldiers have been injured since the start of the war, 465 are still in critical condition. Since Israel retaliated by entering Gaza on Oct 27th, 242 soldiers have been killed with 322 injured and still hospitalized with 38 in serious condition.
In the Hamas invasion, 1200 Israelis were murdered and over 240 taken hostage. 134 are still being held somewhere in Gaza.
Also, according to Nir Dvori, military correspondent for Channel 12TV, PM Netanyahu was “in the loop” regarding the early warning of an imminent terrorist invasion of the Jewish settlements in Gaza. A
According to Dvori over 3,000 terrorists crossed the border at 60 entry points. All that stood in their way was 600 soldiers and 12 tanks. But a well-planned invasion disabled the tanks and neutralized, killed or captured, most of the soldiers.
Dvori said that once the counter attack began, 1600 terrorists were killed, but the fighting lasted two days before the settlements and cities were cleared. Still, says Dvori, that counter-attack by the IDF turned the tide of the invasion and drove the terrorists back into Gaza.
A debate has begun in Israel over the draft of ultra-orthodox into the army. As of now, draft deferments are given to ultra-orthodox who are studying in yeshivot, rabbinical colleges. The Attorney General Gali Baharav-Mieara has said that after 25 years the time has come to finally pass a law that sets out the terms of deferment for Ultra-Orthodox.
Haredim at a lecture at Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem
However, the IDF has said that they are now short of manpower and need the ultra-orthodox to do their part and join the army.
Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has said that the government is breaking the law by not drafting the ultra-orthodox. As of now few ultra-Orthodox volunteer to serve in the army.
According to the times of Israel, the Attorney General’s office told the High Court of Justice Wednesday that the government was engaged in “intensive” efforts to formulate new legislation to regulate exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox men, and asked the court for a further extension to a rapidly approaching March 31 deadline to pass such a law.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s office pointed out that the state will not be legally entitled to continue exempting the group from military service and will need to start enlisting them on April 1. This is because a government resolution from June 2023 which temporarily deferred the draft of ultra-Orthodox men ends on March 31st.
According to an opinion piece in Ynetnews by ultra-Orthodox Mishpacha magazine’s Arye Erlich, drafting ultra-Orthodox men into the IDF has been debated for the past 75 years.
Erlich points out that although there are scores of ultra-Orthodox volunteers in the army, Israeli society demands the ultra-Orthodox do more for the country's security at a time when others are sacrificing their lives on the battlefield
Erlich wonders, however, about, “the integration of thousands of ultra-Orthodox youth into the army without harming their identity, as well as the drafting the ultra-Orthodox who have passed the age of yeshiva.”
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told a press conference that he won’t approve any laws to draft the ultra-Orthodox community unless he is joined by Benny Gantz and his National Unity party, and all the other sides in the coalition. Pundits say this may put Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition at risk of a no-confidence motion that could result in new elections.
According to Ynetnews, Defense Minister Yoav Galant's statement Wednesday night that "without the consent of all the parties of the emergency government" he will not submit the conscription law.
This in fact gives "veto power" to the chairman of the National Unity party Minister Benny Gantz, who entered the government to add military expertise at the beginning of the war but is not committed to the Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition’s interests. A senior political figure said, "In a short time there will be no choice but to go to the elections.”
The senior official said, “there is no law that would include an obligation to serve in the army that the ultra-Orthodox would agree to.” He said, “the ultra-Orthodox will have no choice and they will go to the elections, because that is the only thing that will postpone it."
Also, according to Channel 12TV, as of April 1st, if no law is passed there will no longer be government funds for ultra-Orthodox institutions.
Experts say that according to the general conscription law those who have reached the age of 26 and have not yet been conscripted, will no longer be conscripted into the army.
Currently, there are about 63,000 yeshiva students who were supposed to be drafted when the law expired, but since they were not drafted due to the government's on-going decision not to decide, with each passing day more yeshiva students reach the age of exemption.
National Unity party’s MK Matan Kahana said on Thursday that, ”This is an existential issue, the ultra-Orthodox understand that they must bear the burden"
Time will tell if he is correct. Or if the government will fall over the issue.
Gaza
Crowds in Gaza market protest cost of food
Large crowds burned tires and forced merchants out of a market in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah in protest of soaring food prices.
According to Israel Radio’s Reshet Bet a kilo (2.2lbs) of sugar was selling for 80 shekels (@$21 or $9.50 a pound). According to a Times of Israel report in January, some food prices in Gaza have gone up %1000 percent. A 25 pound sack of flour that sold for $10 before the war can now cost between $40 to as much as $100.
Ynetnews reported that there was no overt chants against Hamas in Wednesday’s protest, however rumors circulate freely that Hamas has been diverting part of the humanitarian aid meant for the Gaza Strip and selling it to traders instead of distributing it for free.
And this is all before the IDF has entered the Rafiah area of Gaza. Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, has said that the army was planning to enter Rafah. Israel believes that Hamas leader Sinwar is hiding in the tunnels beneath Rafah, driven out of Khan Younis by Israeli troops.
International warnings have been issued to the Israeli government to not enter Rafiah. The US has warned Israel to be exceptionally careful if they do enter to make certain to avoid civilian casualties.
Hamas political head Ismail Haniyeh, based in Qatar, said on Monday, ”The threat of new massacres in Rafah reaffirms the nature of this enemy," he said. "The world, especially the brotherly Arab countries, must restrain the enemy and refuse to let it invade the city of Rafah."
Also, on Wednesday, Hamas managed to fire rockets into Israel. Two rockets landed in Ashkelon, one in an open field, one pierced the roof of a parked car. No injuries were reported.
The IDF operating in north Gaza reported they’d found the site of the rocket launchers that hit Ashkelon and destroyed them as well as eliminating the Hamas terrorists operating the site.
Ynetnews reported on Thursday that according to the Wall Street Journal Yeheh Sinwar, the leader of Hama, sent a message to Hamas’ senior officials meeting in Qatar earlier this month that read: "Don't worry, the high number of civilian casualties will lead to pressure on Israel to end the war…We have them where we want them to be.”
The "Wall Street Journal" states that Sinwar's goal is to get out of the bunker in Gaza at the end of the war, to declare a historic victory and to claim that he is the leader of the entire Palestinian issue.
Ynetnews also reported that fighting continues in the Zeitun and Khan Younis areas.
According to Ynetnews, ”Fighting the enemy is like a game of 'hit the mole,'" said an IDF soldier.
“The militants, whose day-to-day leader is Sinwar’s brother Mohammed, have changed their tactics since the brief truce at the end of November. Hamas members try to avoid prolonged exchanges of fire, and instead choose small-scale ambushes using tools such as RPGs and the recorded voices of hostages in an attempt to lure the IDF fighters into traps.
North
Damaged apartment in Kyriat Shmona
Rockets hit northern Israel nearly every day. Some cause damage, others fall in open areas. On Israel radio’s Reshet Bet Kalman-Leiberman show, one resident of the border town of Metulla, who comes twice a week to volunteer as part of the town’s security guard, said that there were only a few score people still living in the town. “This is a tourist destination,” she said. “Usually it is busy. Now it is deserted. The residents have all been evacuated.”
The Iron Dome air defense system reportedly intercepted projectiles that were heading toward populated areas. One of the rockets fell on a main highway in the Galilee barely missing motorists.
The nearby town of Kyriat Shmona, a frequent target of missiles strikes from Lebanon, was hit yet again. A missile crashed into an apartment building. Luckily, the occupants had been among the tens of thousands evacuated from the north to hostels and hotels in the center of the country.
On Monday, over 20 rockets were fired from Syria at the Golan Heights. No damage or injury was reported. Also on Monday, an Israeli was injured near Moshav Shtula in a Hezbollah rocket attack. The IDF says that on Tuesday 10 rockets crossed into Israel, but was not aware of hits on any IDF bases. However, later admitted one had landed inside an IDF base but caused no damage.
On Wednesday, according to Ynetnews, Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas working with the Hezbollah terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for the 40 rocket barrage fired from Lebanon into northern Israel in the morning hours. The terrorist group said that some of the rockets were aimed at IDF radar and air traffic installations in northern Israel.
In response to these bombardments, Israeli jets pounded southern Lebanon.
According to analysts, the latest heavy barrage on the Galilee are a response to the death on Monday of Hezbollah commander Hassan Hussein Salami in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah blames Israel for the death.
Also, earlier in the week Hezbollah shot down a large IDF Zik surveillance and attack drone over Lebanon. Analysts say IDF the IDF responded by hitting Hezbollah’s air defence unit near Baalbek, 100 kilometers from the Israeli border. This was the deepest the IDF has attacked inside Lebanon since the war began on Oct 7th.
Nir Dvori, Channel 12TV’s military correspondent said that besides hitting the missile defense array, another reason for the strike was because Iran had begun shipping in newer rockets to Hezbollah and storing them in Baalbek. Dvori said Israel had to act to neutralize these new weapons.
Gen Tomer Heyman, former head of military intelligence, told a Channel 12TV panel that Baalbek was the region where Hezbollah first established their base and where Hezbollah leader Nasrallah accumulated his power. Heyman said that the strike at Baalbek was also meant as a message to Nasrallah that should he want to up the ante and start a real war with Israel then to go ahead because Israel was ready for him.
According to the Times of Israel, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told a news conference on Tuesday that Hezbollah would “pay a very high price” for its continued attacks on northern Israel. The terror group launched a barrage of rockets at the Western Galilee while the army’s top general was touring the area.
Halevi said the IDF was “taking the right steps” to enable some 80,000 displaced Israelis from Lebanon border communities to return to their homes.”
The Times of Israel reports that since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it was doing so to support Gaza during the war there.
So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in six civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 10 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
On Tuesday, the US State Department’s spokesman Matthew Miller admitted on that the Israelis living near the Lebanese border faced a real security threat. Miller said that the US does not want to see tensions between Israel and Hezbollah rise further. He said that Washington was pursuing a diplomatic path to resolve the issue.
And, the Washington Post wrote on Sunday that “as Lebanon teeters on the edge, a war with Israel would be catastrophic.”
And Haaretz reported on Thursday that the US is concerned that Israel may invade Lebanon in late spring if diplomacy fails.
Hostages
Families of hostages gather before march to Jerusalem
Israelis hostages have been held captive for 145 days. Families of the hostages say that each day the hostages are kept in Gaza is another day their lives are at risk.
On Wednesday morning, according to the Times of Israel, a large number of families of hostages set out on a four-day march from near Kibbutz Re’im to Jerusalem under the banner of “United to free the hostages.”
Before setting off on the trek, organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, marchers gathered in the cleared field ringed by eucalyptus trees where some 360 people were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival on the morning of October 7.
Military experts believe that 130 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza. This after 105 civilians were released during a weeklong truce in late November. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of at least 31 of the captives.
Talks to free the hostages and call a ceasefire have been going on in Egypt and in Qatar. What is known as of now is that 10 Palestinian prisoners are to be released for each Israeli hostage. Hamas is also demanding that Israel completely withdraw from Gaza which Israelis see as a non-starter.
The USA has been actively involved in negotiating the hostage release and ceasefire. Below are the terms proposed by the USA.
Possible Hostage Deal According to Channel 12TV
7 women in exchange for 21 Palestinian prisoners.
5 soldiers for 90 Palestinian prisoners
Among the 90 would be 15 “heavy” prisoners, or those with “blood on their hands.”
15 men over the age of 50 in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
13 wounded male soldiers in exchange for 156 Palestinian prisoners.
Additionally, 40 Palestinian prisoners for each additional hostage released.
In total, 400 prisoners would be released in exchange for 40 Israeli hostages. One hostage released for each day of a ceasefire with a 45-day period envisioned.
However, according to the Times of Israel, Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh said that while the terrorist organization is showing flexibility in negotiations with Israel on a potential hostage swap Hamas is also ready to continue fighting.
"Any flexibility in negotiations, out of concern for the blood of our people, is matched by readiness to defend it," he said.
Haniyeh also said that Israel, which he called "the occupation" and "its partner, the United States, will not be able to obtain through political machinations what they did not obtain in fighting."
And, according to Ynetnews, Hamas appears to give a little ground in a possible hostage deal. A senior Hamas official, Muhammad Nazal, told the Al-Arabi TV channel, "We do not demand that a total ceasefire be in the first stage of the negotiations, but there is no doubt that the occupation forces must withdraw from the Gaza Strip in one of the stages of the negotiations.”
US President Joe Biden said on Monday that he hoped that a cease-fire in Gaza and the freeing of some Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza would come to fruition by next week, ahead of Ramadan. Reportedly, Biden has set March 4th as the deadline for the talks.
According to Ynetnews, Biden’s optimism on a pre-Ramadan hostage deal has left Israeli officials puzzled. The Times of Israel reported that PM Netanyahu was surprised by Biden’s statement.
Families of hostages marching from Re’em festival site to Jerusalem
On Wednesday, John Kirby, a retired US Navy rear admiral now serving as Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House , said he was cautiously optimistic that a deal can be reached.
Channel 12TV reported that representatives of the US, Egypt, the Mossad and IDF representatives are still meeting in Qatar in a “good atmosphere although there were still outstanding issues.
West Bank
This week, the PA (Palestinian Authority) dismissed the cabinet and President Machmud Abbas. This was seen as a step towards reorganizing the PA prior to some sort of arrangement of sharing rule in Gaza.
And, the PA and Hamas representatives met in Moscow this week to try to reach some power-sharing agreement.
Meanwhile, according to Ynetnews, Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in a Wednesday speech urged Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank to march on Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first day of Ramadan. Pundits view this at Haniyeh aiming to inflame tensions during a time of heightened religious fervor.
On Tuesday Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the media that Israel has identified that Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are aiming to take advantage of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and turn it into “the second stage of October 7, and ignite the ground.”
Speaking to the IDF Central Command in the north, Gallant said, “Hamas’s main goal is to take Ramadan, with an emphasis on the Temple Mount and Jerusalem, and turn it into the second phase of their plan that began on October 7. This is the main goal of Hamas, it is being amplified by Iran and Hezbollah.”
Gallant told the gathered high-ranking officers, “We must not give Hamas what it has not been able to achieve since the beginning of the war and converge the combat fronts.”
Gallant pointed out that Hamas called its mass-murdering October 7 onslaught on southern Israel “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” in an effort to claim religious legitimacy for its atrocities.
Al-Aqsa is the main mosque in Jerusalem located on what Israel considers the Temple Mount where the first and second Jewish temples stood two thousand years ago. The site is also considered holy ground to the world’s moslems and any hint of disturbance to Al-Aqsa brings on demonstrations, protests and riots.
Recently, ultra-nationalist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir has said that moslems should be kept off the temple mount during Ramadan and denied access to the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Temple Mount during Ramadan
Ben-Gvir has been harshly criticized for this utterance, with Shin Bet (Israel’s FBI) head Ronan Bar saying that such a move would ignite the west bank.
Defense Minister Gallant, hinting at Ben-Gvir, warned against “irresponsible statements from people who are supposed to be responsible” that could result in an escalation within a short time.”
Also in the West Bank, the IDF eliminated an Islamic Jihad commander during clashes in Jenin.The terrorist was reportedly responsible for a string of shootings in the west bank.
On Thursday the Jerusalem District Attorney’s office filed indictments against two cousins, one 17, from E. Jerusalem, and one 29, from Nablus, for terrorist activities. The two allegedly contacted a Hamas operative asking for money and equipment to carry out a terrorist attack.
Red Sea
Iranian missile parts seized in Arabian Sea by US Coast Guard
According to AP, four crew members, from an unflagged ship that US officials say was carrying Iranian-made missile components to Houthi rebels in Yemen, are scheduled to appear Tuesday in federal court in Virginia. Prosecutors are expected to argue the four should be held without bond while they await trial.
Two navy seals were killed during the operation to seize the ship. FBI affidavits show that crew members were in contact by satellite phone with members of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Also, according to AFP, Iranian and Hezbollah operatives in Yemen are aiding Houthi rebels. Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen, told a Senate subcommittee that Iran was “equipping and facilitating” the Houthi attacks.
Analysts say that the Houthi attacks have had a significant effect on traffic through the busy Red Sea shipping route, forcing some companies into a two-week detour around southern Africa.
Last week, Egypt said Suez Canal revenues were down by up to 50 percent this year.
Meanwhile, the US and UK have struck repeatedly against Houthi missile bases. However, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Middle East, agreed that the United States has “an obligation to respond” to attacks on shipping but added, “I do worry about the efficacy.”
Murphy pointed out that the Saudis had fought the Houthis from 2015-2022 in 23,000 airstrikes. He asked if the Saudi’s weren’t effective why would more bombings of the same sites have any effect.
Also, Reuters reported that the U.S. military said it had destroyed three unmanned surface vessels and two anti-ship cruise missiles that were prepared to launch toward the Red Sea from Houthi controlled areas of Yemen.
The U.S. military’s Central Command also said on X that it destroyed an aerial drone that was over the Red Sea. All the weapons “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and to the U.S. Navy ships in the region.”
Also, according to the Jerusalem Post, Houthi rebels have knocked out an underwater cable linking Europe to Asia. This marks a serious disruption of communications, said the Post.
Anti-Semitism
Israeli Eurovision representative Eden Golan
According to Ynetnews, after rejecting Israel's first song pick for the Eurovision Song Contest, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) also rejected its alternate entry, entitled Dance Forever, Foreign Ministry officials told Ynet on Wednesday.
Dance Forever, which references the Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival where terrorists killed 364 revelers and festival workers, abducting dozens more to Gaza, appears to have been rejected for the same reason.
Also, In an interview with Ynet, Rabbi Joav Melchior, the chief rabbi of the Jewish community in Oslo, says that such levels of antisemitism have not been seen in the Scandinavian country since World War II.
And, UC Berkeley President Prof. Carol Christ addressed the violent riots that erupted on campus on Tuesday after attorney Ran Bar-Yoshafat, deputy director of the Kohelet Policy Forum, tried to speak about Israeli advocacy during the war. Bar-Yoshafat had been invited by Jewish organizations on campus.
Chancellor Carol Christ, in a statement issued a day after the violent protests, said it was "an incident that violated not only our rules, but also some of our most fundamental values.”
According to Ynetnews, in that incident dozens of pro-Palestinian activists assembled outside the Zellerbach Playhouse to prevent students from entering. They shouted "global intifada," spit on the students, banged on the doors and broke windows, which then led to physical confrontations.
An Israeli student said that they heard chants of "global intifada" all over campus. "I'm just scared to death to be an Israeli or Jewish student at Berkeley now," the student said.
Idan Harel, 36, Bay Area regional manager of the Club Z organization that invited Bar-Yoshafat, emphasizes that the speaker's identity was not the trigger for the riots.
"In the past we also brought speakers from the Israeli left and there were also calls against it then. It's irrelevant. We are in the most antisemitic area in the United States, we need to understand that. Today it is dangerous to be a Jew here on campus. A student who was attacked is in intensive care. They spat on us. And students who stayed on campus have to deal with it every day. But we will not be silenced," Harel said.
Also, the chair of the Antisemitism Task Force at Harvard, Prof. Rafaella Sadon, resigned from her position saying the reason was a failure of the university’s staff’s efforts to battle anti-semitism.
Meanwhile, about 9,000 artists, curators and museum directors have asked the Venice Biennale to exclude Israel because of what they said was genocide in Gaza.
And, in an article in the Atlantic, entitled ‘Why the Most Educated People in America Fall for Anti-Semitic Lies,’ respected author and professor Dara Horn, a Harvard alumni who served on former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s anti-Semitism advisory committee, said that when it came to anti-Semitism, “Today, the big lie is winning.” The big lie was that “anti-Semitism itself is a righteous act of resistance against evil, because Jews are collectively evil and have no right to exist. “
Prof.Dara Horn wrote, “The contention that Jews are immune to bigotry because they are ‘rich,’ an idea even more fraught and also often false (about 20 percent of Jews in New York City, for instance, live in poverty or near-poverty), is equally nonsensical. No one claims that gay men or Indian Americans never experience bigotry because of those groups’ statistically higher incomes. The idea that money erases bigotry apparently applies only to Jews”
She pointed out that “ In an April 2023 lecture, David Nirenberg, the historian, presented the example of an activist with a large following whose boundary-pushing rhetoric met with accusations of anti-Semitism.
The activist pointed out, as Nirenberg put it, that anti-Semitism “was merely an accusation that Jews used to silence criticism and squash free speech.” He brought libel lawsuits against newspapers that accused him of anti-Semitism, and won them. It is unfortunate for those making this argument today that this activist was named Adolf Hitler.”
Technology
City Transformer Israeli Folding Electric Car
Israel-based startup City Transformer’s foldable electric vehicle will be released to the public in July, as the company hopes to revolutionize the urban commute, the company announced.
City Transformer, created a car that can contract the wheelbase down to just one meter (39 inches) wide for easy parking or maneuvering through traffic. However,while the wheels might contract the body never changes shape.
Inside, like in a fighter-jet, there is room for a driver and another adult sitting behind the driver, or two children instead of an adult passenger. Or if you’d like, the family dog.
City Transformer also has another version, the CT-2, that can hit speeds of 40 kilometers an hour (24 miles per hour) in the compact shrunken wheelbase mode or with the wheelbase expanded to 1.4 meters (4.6 feet), the car can reach 90 km/h (55 mph). The higher speed makes the car suitable for heavy traffic but not as good for long drives.
The City Transformer hits 50 km/h in five seconds, and has a range of 120-180 kilometers (75-112 miles) per charge.
But the car isn’t cheap. The purchase price stands at 16,000 euros ($17,400). A pre-order is available worldwide with a deposit of 150 euros ($160),
United Hatzalah, the Israeli EMS organization, has reportedly ordered 1000 of the vehicles.
Editorial
Haaretz estimates that 135,000 Israelis are now without a home because of the war in Gaza. over 60,000+ from the north, the rest from the south.
These are “unhomed” families living in hostels and hotels. These are families with children that have no firm educational framework. These are parents mostly without employment. To call this a disaster would be an understatement.
Granted, 200,000 Palestinians have reportedly been displaced by the IDF in Gaza. But, as the polls show, most supported Hamas and garner little sympathy in Israel.
Still, the rafiah (rafah) area of Gaza is indeed a cesspool. Most of Gaza is the same. Except for the exclusive areas where the well-connected live, those in Gaza live in dire poverty, in crowded neighborhoods with dirt streets and refuse running down the rivets along the street.
One wonders why Hamas, after 17 years of rule, hasn’t done much to alleviate the ills of those Gazans rather than spend billions on tunnels and weapons.
Many Gazans made their livings, such as they were, inside Israel. In Israel’s factories, restaurants, fields, supermarkets and construction sites. Now these workers are locked inside what is considered the most densely populated space of land in the world.
Would that they had had a say in the invasion they might have voted against it. Or maybe not. Pundits point out that religious fundamentalism takes irrational forms. No matter if those fundamentalists are Moslem, Christian or Jewish.
Jewish people around the world are now are up against a tide of anti-Semitism that, according to some, has not been seen since the 1930’s. But skeptics ask if perhaps this discordant noise isn’t all media hype?Isn’t all just selling ads and getting ratings? Maybe things aren’t all that bad?
One family that lived in the suburbs of a major city with a large Jewish population was untouched by anti-Semitism. They said they personally have never experienced the sort of anti-Semitism mentioned in the media. Where placards supporting Israel were torn down. Or mezuzot ripped from doorposts. “Not in our suburb, oh, not, not here,” they said.
But there is a momentum to the hatred of Jews, rational or not. Hamas and Hezbollah have fixed ideas about what the world should look like. ISIS and Al-Qaeda have their own fixed ideas. Add them up and they all compute to a world run according to Islamic Law.
Truth be told, if the ultra-Orthodox Jews had their way, they’d like a world, or at least the Jewish part of the world, run according to their version of Jewish law.
Even today, there are those among the ultra-Orthodox who ignore Israel as a Jewish state, treat Israel rather as a state of non-believers whose laws should be ignored. They could just as easily be living in Dublin or Buenos Aires.
When the sirens blare to mark the fallen soldiers these ultra-Orthodox ignore the sirens and keep walking while the rest of Israel stands still n silent observance.
Now, with Israel’s army short-staffed, with the IDF calling for recruits and looking at the 63,000 ultra-Orthodox men of draft age as a labor pool, the ultra-Orthodox are being called upon to do their part. Share in the burden. Demonstrations by non-ultra-Orthodox wonder why the huge sums from the Israeli budget go to the ultra-Orthodox and not to the social welfare programs, to education, to health?
Those “unhomed” people wonder why the money shouldn’t go to rebuilding their communities. Or even pay their hotel bills on time?
Why should the ultra-orthodox get this largess, the non-ultra-Orthodox public asks, when these young are not putting on uniforms and picking up rifles and going out to meet the enemy? Or just putting on uniforms and taking up non-combat tasks that would free other soldiers to fight?
The ultra-Orthodox community believes that their army service is best accomplished by sitting in a study hall with a Talmud and “learning.” This, they believes, keeps God on the side of the Jewish people.
However, those non ultra-Orthodox who are fighting in Gaza or in the north, or stuck in a hostel or hotel, disagree. Why should these young religious men be allowed to sit and study, go home to their families, enjoy the life they’ve chosen, while the rest of Israel is in the midst of what might well be an existential struggle. Especially if the war spins out of control. Especially if fighting breaks out in the north, and the West Bank, and the Red Sea.
Pundits say that it is possible that the war in Gaza and the loss of soldiers killed or wounded has brought about a seminal change in attitudes among Israelis. Where even the modern orthodox, who serve in the army, want to see those sitting in study halls put on a uniform and pick up a rifle.
Meanwhile, entering the fifth month of war, the longest war Israel has ever fought there are still lover 100 hostages in the dank tunnels of Gaza. There are still 135,000 Israelis without homes.
And the war is far from over.
In the name of unity, the analysts say, the ultra-Orthodox must decide to do their part. They must also put down their books, as many Israelis have put down their computers and their pencils, and their tools, and do their part in this war.
Either that, or perhaps, find themselves overwhelmed by yet another invasion by Hamas, Hezbollah, or whomever, or all together, and this time, not only overwhelmed, but overrun.