Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana has invited haredi IDF reservist Yisrael Hirsch to be his guest of honor for a visit to the Israeli Parliament after he was verbally attacked by a secular Israeli woman on a public bus in Hod Hasharon.
A video of the response by Hirsch to the woman’s verbal abuse has gone viral on social media and across the internet.
“Yisrael Yehonatan Hirsch, the People of Israel cherish you, embrace you and love you,” Ohana wrote in a tweet. “The antisemitism you experienced has no place in any country in the world, least of all in the national home of the Jewish People, the State of Israel.
“It is my privilege to invite you to be my guest of honor, together with your family or whomever you choose, and I hope you will accept the invitation,” Ohana added.
ישראל יהונתן הירש, עם ישראל מוקיר אותך, מחבק אותך ואוהב אותך.
האנטישמיות שחווית אין לה מקום באף מדינה בעולם, קל וחומר בבית הלאומי של העם היהודי, מדינת ישראל.
יש לי הזכות להזמין אותך להיות אורח הכבוד שלי בכנסת, יחד עם המשפחה או מי שתרצה, ואני מקווה שתענה להזמנה. https://t.co/W31n7V1ljS— Amir Ohana – אמיר אוחנה (@AmirOhana) June 19, 2023
In the video, Hirsch – who now serves as a reservist after having fulfilled his tour of duty as an Israeli soldier — is seen responding to the heckler, who accused him of not serving in the army. In fact, not only did Hirsch serve, but so did his father before him, as confirmed by Israeli journalist and politician Yinon Magal.
“Why are you jumping to the conclusion that I didn’t serve in the army?” Hirsch asked his heckler in the video. “Because I’m wearing a yarmulka and a white shirt?”
The woman answered “yes.”
Hirsch replied, “You cannot go around judging people.”
In response, the woman complained, “You need to go to the army just like my brothers did.”
“I did go to the army, and likely for a longer time than you did,” Hirsch replied heatedly. “I am a captain in the reserves.”
Clearly surprised, the woman demanded to know why Hirsch wears a yarmulka if he served in the army.
“It is my faith, and it is my right to do so,” he answered. “It’s unbelievable that every time I ride the bus in Hod Hasharon, the city where I live, I get harassed like this.”
