Gabi Gazit: I Didn’t Mean All Chareidim

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gabi-gazitRadio talk-show host Gabi Gazit referred for the first time Monday to the harsh words he had spoken against chareidim and settlers, claiming “I was misunderstood.”

 Gazit, who returned from vacation and hosted his “No-Stop Radio” show for the first time since the incident, withdrew the term “worms” he had used, and noted that he had meant only those who burn the State’s flag or clashed with IDF soldiers, and had not intended to include all settlers or chareidim.

Before explaining himself, he addressed those who had called for his dismissal, saying, “Despite the forecasts, here you are listening to my voice. We’ll be here for a long, long time.”

During the show’s opening monologue, Gazit spoke of the events that had led to his outburst: During Holocaust Remembrance Day, some chareidim failed to observe the minute’s silence in honor of the victims, and during Memorial Day for Israel’s soldiers, when he mourned those of his brigade who had fallen among the sands of the Sinai, he heard of flag-burning and attacks against soldiers.

 “Something snapped in me, though I restrained myself,” he said about the first incident, but after a week, “the crack in my heart widened, and I knew I couldn’t restrain myself anymore.” He admitted that the things he said were “harsh and callous,” but, he said, he had paid for them – including via Facebook and other places where he was boycotted.

 Gazit made an effort to clarify that he had not intended to include entire populations, and that he was surprised that some had understood him in this way. He said some chareidim serve in the army, some work, produce, pay taxes – “and it seems they were included in what I said, without reason.”

 Regarding the others, he said, “That’s a group that I can slam, that’s a group that it’s my duty to attack each day, and that’s what I’ll do. Not just them – also the State that continues to permit this phenomenon. That’s my opinion, and I’ll continue to express it.”

 While he wished to withdraw the word “worms,” but added, “I am allowed to call those who avoid service ‘leeches’.” He clarified that when he referred to a “primitive belief,” he had meant anti-Zionist ideology which had led extreme groups to burn flags, and not religious faith.

“I am the son of a charedi Jew,” he said. “My father was a cantor, and taught me never to undermine the faith of others.”

 He also referred to his “proposal” to disconnect the charedi community from electricity and water, or expel them abroad, claiming that he had meant to “compel those who were not happy in the State to manage their lives autonomously.”

 So where did the misunderstanding come from? Gazit suspected it came from the listeners, from those who “heard but didn’t open their ears wide enough to understand.”

He promised that he would continue to attack this “contemptuous phenomenon” at every opportunity, adding, “Maybe one day I’ll also apologize, if there’s a reason, but not today, not today, not today.” He might apologize, he said, if those who called him Hitler and Goebbels and wished him and his family a painful death came to him to apologize.

During the show, Gazit had called the chareidim “leeches”, “parasites” and “worms”, suggesting that they should be expelled from the State or shut up in their own neighborhoods cut off from electricity and water.

 “They are useless,” he said, “they don’t produce anything, don’t contribute anything, they don’t plant a tree or a tomato, don’t manufacture high-tech.”

“They are parasites of the worse kind, and as far as I am concerned – if it was realistic – I would pack them up in one package and send them to their primitive brothers in the dark courtyards of Brooklyn, Queens and all the other places they should live in; let Americans handle them.”

{Ynet/Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}


16 COMMENTS

  1. 1) “They are parasites of the worse kind, and as far as I am concerned – if it was realistic – I would pack them up in one package and send them to their primitive brothers in the dark courtyards of Brooklyn, Queens and all the other places they should live in; let Americans handle them.”
    2) Gazit… noted that he had meant only those who burn the State’s flag or clashed with IDF soldiers, and had not intended to include all settlers or chareidim.
    It seems that statemants #1 and #2 don’t concur.

  2. Um, don’t the secular have dozens of traitors over the years that gave away army secrets and dirtied the IDF’s image (as an army comprised of Jews it’s already perceived as such) by telling the media of “war crimes the army committed? What about the person (I forgot his name) that leaked information about the Israel’s nukes?
    Who is it if not the secular keep on compromising Israel’s security by giving up pieces of land vital to it’s ability to defend itself? And for whom?
    His only valid point (although calling them leeches is uncalled for) are those who consistently call for the destrution of the Israeli government and yet use the free medical care and other services government provides.

  3. Primitive brothers in Brooklyn and Queens. Listen Mr. Talk Show host in your wildest dreams you can’t be nearly as mutzlah as us primitive frum Yidden. We Baruch HaShem have an infrastucture of goodness that rivals any nationality…. including your Zionist Kidnappers [Yaldei Teiman] and brutal men… Go crawl under your rock! You speak as the scum of the earth, discrace to your father and nation. Hitler would be proud of you!

  4. I am a frum Jewess and I was appalled at the comments that Gazit made about Chareidim. However, I do understand his anger towards certain chareidim who burn Israeli flags and do not stand during the minute’s silence. I find their actions to be divisive and hateful. Btw, I am not A zionist, but chareidim who do things that may offend other Jews is a big chillul Hashem.

  5. #4.In what way are you setting an example, in what way are you better than he is…your language certainly does not reflect it. If you want to make your sect proud, you have to rise above it. Tit for tat is not the answer.It just shows the underlying anger and issue you have too. If you have to shout back, it means you have to proove your point. And if you have to proove your point, you’re in trouble.When a person is comfortable with themselves… and with his derech he doesn’t have to lash out.Anger is always revealing……

  6. Dear Proud;
    I say it loud and clear! I stand up for my nation and am not an apologist as is #6. When you speak the truth, fear nobody. When you see a person who would make Hitler Yem”sh prod call a spade a spade.
    I am afraid that you are confusing moral clarity with simple anger.
    BTW your statement “if you have to prove your point, you’re in trouble” makes no sense how can you argue a valid point without proof?

  7. in lsrael as in other conteries we pay sales tax so lets look at who pays this tax the chiloni with 1 child who after the army goes to chutz learetz or a family with ten children who each gets marreid have to buy stoves, friges, washer dryer etc.so the guy who works at tadiran has work because of the charadim.
    and about the not standing just look at video of kikar shabos the photogephers runing aroud during the siren takeing pictures.

  8. To #8;

    Proud Jew is right on target. Chareidim have the obligation to set a postive example to secular Jews, so when Chareidim set the Israeli flag in flames and look down on Jews whether they are frum or not is despicable behavior and certainly not mentchlik. Now that we are in the time of sefiras Omer we have an oppotunity to work on ourselves and that includes loving every Jew.

    Am I an apologist? Certainly not. No, I am a realist. We can’t force secular Jews to observe Judaism, however, we can do it by showing them the beauty of Yiddishkeit with love not hate.

  9. #6. I am not a apologist…none whatsoever, but that does not mean I have to act in a similar manner. As a frum yid, and a “light onto the nations”, I need to behave with derech eretz and mentchlichkeit in ANY GIVEN SITUATION.That, more than anything is the way to win people…like they say, you win more people with honey than with salt…or did you ever hear this one. “love your enemies, so they have no reason to hate you”..this of course, is not relevent to the enemies of Israel; but it sure takes in secular jews, who being unlearned in the ways of our fathers, harbor many negetive feelings towards us frum jews, almost through no fault of their own. Of course, I am not willing to dispense absolution, and taking responsibility is of utmost importance in life…yet…we need to show them the beauty inherent in us and our way of life… and that is by not always commenting on everything, especially publicly..It only helps to push them further away and disrespect you.
    As with any relationship, the ability to sometimes swallow hard, even with people closest to us, hard as it may be, brings the feud to a standstill. You can only agrue when two people are involved. Cut the arguments. Show them who you really are, what’s truly in your heart, love them in spite of their shortcomings, their failings…that and nothing else will evoke in them a love for you and your derech, something they would want to emulate. Otherwise, my dear child, you are just “grubbing a grib” and burying yourself, something you don’t want to do.
    Yelling and screaming, ugly diatribe is unbecoming a yid, no matter what. sorry

  10. #4 Standing up for your nation? what? BY CALLING HITLER INTO THE PICTURE? Standing up for your nation- if you want to have a voice,YOUR VOICE SHOULD BE SOFT WHEN YOU WANT TO REPROOF!There are many ways you can stand up for your nation, and no one said you shouldn’t, but there is a way to do that and “Hitler” and other arguments just don’t cut it. Forgive me, my dear brother.You woudn’t use this language with friends, so it’s unbecoming with anyone! These people haven’t got the foggiest notion about yiddishkeit, do you know that? Some know absolutely nothing of it…they are so in the dark…and you are just adding fuel to the fire! You are just making their ire rise by using inflammatory language..
    My good friend and brother…go soft..it will win you a lot…try it..in every aspect of life.

  11. Thank You proud Jew. point well taken. However that is in private with one on one dealings… When we get bashed over and over again publicly, we Jews don’t turn the other cheek!

  12. Mentchlichkeit is a place in which we don’t discriminate…meaning, private and befrat Public!!!!!The world does not understand our way…we are in golus…that doesn’t mean “sheep to the slaughter”…but it means that no matter what. we keep our middos intact.That is the only way we make a Kiddush Hashem…gentiles seeing that in spite of things we maintain our character. It may not always serve us well practically, but it sure shows them who we are spiritually.
    And…to answer your answer. Did you ever get anywhere or did anyone ever love you more or at all for attacking them? Have you “ever” won favor in anyones’s eye for misbehaving? If you did, then you know it’s working….but I doubt that you have..
    MAINTAIN GOOD CHARACTER IN FACE OF A SLAP…NOT COMFORTABLE, NOT CONVENIENT…BUT THE RIGHT DERECH.You won’t win anyone over by attacking….it just doesn’t work..and if it did, show me by example….vus di hust shoin gepoilt mit shlechten.
    Remember again, we are in gulas…we don’t have to be seen and heard so much, just do your thing and Hashem will help…don’t worry.

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