Channel 12 host Galit Gutman last Friday told the panel on her morning show, as well as the audience at home, “How much burden can be put on a third of this country to keep all these haredim who suck our blood?”
She was attacked from all over by Israeli politicians and other public figures who suggested her comments would sound better in German and demanded her head.
How bad were her comments? The chairman of the Hadash-Ta’al faction, MK Ayman Odeh, tweeted in response: “As Arabs, we are deeply familiar with the racism and supremacy of the establishment, so I cannot help but be shocked by this repulsive statement. Incitement is incitement, no matter if it is directed at Haredim, Arabs, or any other group. Every citizen deserves rights in this country, regardless of whether he served in the occupation army or how much tax he pays. Sending solidarity to my Haredi friends.”
In addition, thousands of Channel 12 viewers flooded the network’s phone lines with complaints, and the Gutman’s bosses at the Keshet production company settled for an apology on live TV. However, the Second Broadcast Authority responded by announcing that it has launched an infringement procedure against Gutman. They could revoke her contract. They won’t, believe me, she won’t even miss a single paycheck, but they could.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi (Likud), said it best in his tweet: “In the darkness of the Middle Ages when antisemitic gentiles hurled such calls at the Jews, we said: That’s how it is – Esau hates Jacob. But here in Israel? A Jewish woman? Openly? I don’t know who this woman is, but her statements are pseudo-antisemitic, shameful, and unbefitting a media platform. If it has a pinch of journalistic ethics, Channel 12 is expected to suspend her immediately.”
Gutman issued an apology on Instagram: “I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart if I offended an entire sector. I love the State of Israel, and out of concern for its future, I have a strong criticism of the representatives of the Haredi sector in the Knesset. The words were said during a discussion about the government’s budget and the property tax fund. But I have no intention of harming the sector as a whole. I apologize to anyone who was hurt by these things.”
It was the kind of panicky apology we hear so often from public figures who realize they’ve gone too far and there may not be a way back, they just ruined their career.
Gutman is no spring chicken – she is 51, and her claim to fame is her 17 years as a supermodel, doing mostly bathing suits and underwear. She appeared in a few drama serials, and as of 2013 has been hosting talk shows in the morning on Channel 12.
Of course, Gutman is far from being the only openly antisemitic Israeli attacking the Haredi community using vile antisemitic words and actions of the worst kind. Most of these identify the Haredim as an economic burden on the secular taxpayers. On several occasions, left-wing demonstrators threw money at Haredim in an attempt to humiliate them.
But according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Israeli Arab communities receive hundreds of millions in taxes abatements (as do many kibbutzim), while Haredi communities receive almost no tax relief at all. And if you were to argue that this is because haredim don’t work – you’ll be so wrong. According to the same CBS, 54% of Haredi men and 81% of Haredi women work and pay taxes.
So, yes, I think they should fire the Gutman woman. But they won’t.
