I sit down to write this on the day after United Torah Judaism and Shas declared they are pulling out (well sort of but not really) from the governing coalition.
As I wrote in my last column. Achudut is the essential ingredient that the State of Israel requires to survive and prosper.
This latest charedi move over the issue of yeshiva bochurim being drafted to the army, is likely to put that achdut under renewed threat yet again.
There is no issue that raises the temperature and polarizes Israelis more than exemptions for yeshiva bochurim serving in the army.
A friend of mine told me about a couple he knows who moved with their family to a new home in the greater Tel Aviv area. The family fits into the category of “dati” as opposed to “charedi” (there are really soooo many categories and subcategories to choose for yourself) as, roughly speaking, did most of their neighbors.
One of her new neighbors engaged the mother of the family in conversation when they met in a supermarket. “Do you have any children in the army?” she inquired. The new arrival said that indeed she had, “I have two sons and a son-in-law all in Gaza at the moment.” The woman who asked the question smiled broadly saying that she has one son in Gaza too. Then she asked another question which was in reality more of a statement. “You must hate the charedim then?” Her new neighbor replied, “No, I don’t. They are defending the country the way they believe will do most good, and we defend it in the way we believe will help most.”
That was not what her questioner expected her to say. In fact, she was so appalled at that answer that she repeated the conversation to everyone in the neighborhood. This newcomer, so alike and aligned with her new neighbors in almost every respect, had failed the essential test of belonging. She didn’t hate.
That, it transpired, proved a critical flaw. Willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for their people was not enough. They didn’t hate charedim. They were ostracized and rejected. They had to relocate.
That hatred and passion is often mirrored or reflected by many of those other categories and subcategories I referred to. You’ll find it in charedi neighborhoods directed from one element towards another. You can see it across secular society too.
Konstantin Kisin, the Right-wing podcaster and author, appeals to his audiences to become familiar with a 1980s Soviet defector and ex-KGB officer, Yuri Bezmenov. In a series of lectures, he explained what the KGB spent most of its time doing in its struggle with the West. I was already familiar with Yuri Bezmenov. Watching his talks on YouTube is simply terrifying in its mundaneness.
He explained that contrary to the general belief, there were very few “James Bond” espionage operations or assassinations during the Cold War. Most of the Soviet Union’s activities against its perceived enemies were devoted to encouraging elements within Western societies to turn on themselves. The KGB called this “Demoralization.” It was and is a simple and irresistible tactic.
Bezmenov explained that if you encourage, direct and funnel finance into individuals and organizations most likely to cause their societies to tear themselves apart, your results will be more devastating than an entire arsenal of Soviet nuclear missiles.
That lesson holds true today and it was one that Vladimir Putin (another ex-KGB officer) deployed in Ukraine in the lead up to invasion and war.
It is so obvious a tactic that the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote in, “The Art of War” around the 6th century BCE, “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
I would invite you to be a modern Sun Tzu. If you wanted to bring down the State of Israel, what tactic would you choose?
The answer is obvious, activate and encourage the groups inside Israel who can and want to do the job for you.
If that strikes you as simply mad and you protest, “How could you suggest that there are elements in Israeli society that would be complicit in the collapse of the Israeli State?”
My answer is, “Remember our history.”
There have always been Jewish groups like that within the Jewish people. Chanukah had its Misyavnim, the USSR had its Yevzektzia. They were prepared to betray their people, unless their people submitted to their vision of Jewish society.
You will have noticed them on the pre-October 7 streets of Tel Aviv in their latest iteration.
Israel National News in an op-ed wrote, “You would be right to think that the repetitive Tel Aviv protest movement is well-funded. It takes a large budget to constantly close a central part of Israel’s major city, to erect and dismantle stages, purchase or hire sound systems, transportation, equipment, flags, banners, billboards, and advertising costs…”
They listed the major foreign-funders of those epic demonstrations with names like, “Blue and White Future” and “Darkenu.” They received huge figures from abroad that swelled their coffers to bursting. The purpose was of course to destabilize the democratically elected Netanyahu government.
Recent revelations from Congressmen Brian Mast and Jim Jordan show that money was funneled by the Biden administration to anti-Netanyahu groups to achieve the same goal. These funds are alleged to have arrived via USAID which also sent U.S. funds to Hamas.
So, there it is; some of the main funders of the demonstrations, sent funds to Hamas too. Attack Israel from without and within, the ultimate goal is the same.
Blue and White Future’s key figures include Attorney Gilead Sher – former chief of staff to Ehud Barak and Ami Ayalon, who previously headed the Shin Bet and served in the Labor Party. Those are serious Deep State names.
Transport Minister Miri Regev, a former Israeli Brigadier General and others accused former Prime Minister Ehud Barak of planning a coup d’état to bring down the elected government.
Three months before the October 7 Mini Holocaust, on July 2023, the Jerusalem Post published an op-ed entitled, “Ehud Barak’s poisonous pyromania threatens Israeli democracy.”
In it the writer says, “He blabbers uncontrollably about Israel becoming a “fascist state” and an “apartheid” country… In one speech I heard, he accused all Israelis to his political right of wearing Nazi-style “selection eyeglasses” (mishkefei selectzia shel hayamin) – which is a disgusting political slur whether used by an antisemitic non-Jew or a born-again wannabe Israeli leader…Worst of all, by far worst of all, is the lead role that Barak has taken in calling for subversion of the IDF through mass refusal-to-serve by Israeli soldiers and reserve duty officers.”
He is joined today in “disgusting political slurs” by another former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert and one aspirant to the post, Yair Lapid.
Al Jazeera delightedly reported, “Two prominent Israeli politicians have criticized plans by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set up what it calls a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza, saying the proposal would amount to interning Palestinians in a “concentration camp.”
Israel’s enemies have studied their Sun Tzu and KGB playbook well. Tragically there are plenty of Israelis desperate and ready to fight their war for them.
