OUTRAGEOUS: Benny Gantz Says: Lag Ba’omer Tragedy Highlights “Dangers Of Ultra-Orthodox Autonomy”

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Speaking in the Knesset during a tribute for the victims of the Har Meron tragedy in which 45 people lost their lives, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the drama highlights the dangers of “ultra-Orthodox autonomy within Israeli society.”

“It is our duty to turn this national tragedy into change,” said Gantz.

“The State of Israel cannot afford to break up into autonomies in which people do what they want. There is a law for everyone and everyone has the right to practice their faith and traditions under the auspices of the state,” he added.

“Therefore, for now, we don’t need criticism, but rather draw conclusions. No self-flogging, but a national embrace while looking to the future.”

Meanwhile, Interior Minister and Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri said the government should have full control of Har Meron.

“I remained silent for several days until the end of the levayos. This terrible tragedy does not exempt us from a thorough examination and investigation to ensure that no further disasters like this recur,” he said. “It is time to tackle the root [of the problem], take responsibility for it, provide significant funding and build infrastructure on the site, as is necessary for a holy place.”

{Matzav.com Israel}


46 COMMENTS

  1. Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer has called in a sensitive way for introspection and change regarding autonomy (1st quote Washington Post, 2nd NBC) :

    “Even some Haredi leaders said the time had come to reevaluate the relationship of ultra-Orthodox communities — which have grown to about 13 percent of Israel’s population — with the state that surrounds them.

    “Haredim don’t want to lose autonomy, but becoming big by definition means being much more involved, much more integrated, and handing over a certain degree of autonomy,” said Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, a former official in the office of Israel’s chief rabbi and the head of Haredi programs at the Tikvah Fund, an advocacy group. “That is something that Haredi society hasn’t quite come to terms with.”

    “It’s a call for rethinking what is it that we didn’t do right,” said an ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Jerusalem, Yehoshua Pfeffer, the founding editor of the journal Tzarich Iyun. “It’s not about the leadership. It’s about us as a community, as a society, because it’s the underlying opinions, the prevailing mindset of the society, that is going to be reflected by the leadership.”

    The NBC article also quotes Pnina Pfeuffer, CEO of New Haredim, an umbrella organization for ultra-Orthodox activists who want to see change in the community.

  2. so, therefore, we should learn from this tragedy to mock people who dont think the way we do? does he want klal yisroel to become ‘woke’ like america? does he mean נהיה ככל הגוים חס ושלום ?

    • No, it is more understanding that klal yisroel exists in this world and in this time for better or worse, and that we cannot simply be contrarians and anti-establishment and expect to be respected for it.

  3. It is Politics 101.

    This Empty suit, sees that Lapid has the mandate to form a Government.

    Above mentioned empty suit realized that to be popular he needs ANTI CHAREIDI Creds.

    Hence, Empty suit opens his mouth.

    As it says in the Gemorah

    KOL HaMEITZIR L’YISROEL N’AASEH ROSH.

  4. There was no “ultra-Orthodox autonomy”

    #1.) It was the police who closed the barricade caused the death trap. Yes, it was an accident waiting to happen but it was still the government the ultimately caused the deaths.

    #2.) The same police that evacuated the mountain in the aftermath of the tragedy could have stopped people from coming up the mountain when it got too crowded. They were there the whole time, they saw how crowded it was they could have easily said no more people allowed up until the crowd on top of the mountain thins out.

    #3.) The overwhelming majority of the people arrived with public transportation. It was certainly knowable to the government how many people arrived on the mountain and how many people left. They easily could have controlled the crowd size by limiting or delaying the number of busses bringing passengers to the site at any given time.

    • to 1) They closed the barricade after people started falling on top of each other in order to prevent more deaths.
      to 3) They were commanded by the government not to limit the number of visitors, which came because of pressure from Charedi askonim.
      Yes, we must take some blame and stop blaming every problem in Israeli society on the chilonim.

      • Dear 8:52am one eyed moshe dayan, are you now one brain-celled as well? So your genius solution to when a stampede erupts is to shut down all exits so that no one can escape and so that the crowd keeps on pushing each other longer?! I don’t know about your planet, but here on planet Earth there exists a very advanced technology of letting people out but not in, otherwise known as a one way exit, which may be accomplished via a simple rotation of the police barricade by 180 degrees. I know, what a shockingly advanced technology! So no, we are not blaming the chilonim who are tinokei shenishbu, but we are blaming the judenrat traitors, the self proclaimed elites who usurped the power in our land.

      • They should have closed the barricade INSTEAD of closing the exit at the end of the ramp when people were dying. Why didn’t these reshoim open the exit when people were begging them too.

        It has nothing to do with the number of visitors as every year there are over 3 times the amount and EVERYTHING to do with the government meddling into chareidi affairs.

        NO we will not take blame if the police were at fault.

        Get your head out of the sandbox and see what’s happening.

  5. Benny is ferocious by the beards he shares a debt. His own crony life is a crack nerve.

    Who yawns in Israel is who meets. Give the sun some Talmud and the rack comes back from jewish black zionist hand. You hear it all the time; our weakest brothers become our greatest blood-guilt sales.

    Rage the tremors we still can not feel anything else for David.

  6. When the army comes to the Yeshiva the Yeshiva will go to the army. A million israeli Jewish kids are in public school and don’t have a clue about Judaism. When these secular pork eating politicians will be non atheism will talk.

  7. Why is your headline outrageous??? He is unfortunately correct. 110 years ago there was another tragedy on Lag Be’omer . In the ensuing 109 years the crowds only got larger and larger. We were living on Nissim. In 2008 the government already had a report about the safety conditions in Meron. Who was impeding the necessary safety measures? And you call gantz’s comments outrageous. For shame.

    • Why is the headline outrageous when it’s fact? Hard to believe, huh? See post 5:32 and you’ll see whose fault it is. The government reported the safety conditions so that they can have a foothold. If they really cared they’d have made it safe for Lag B’Omer even if ultra-orthodox have jurisdiction over Meron. Don’t be naive.

      • if the chareidim have jurisdiction that means the government couldn’t make any improvements. what don’t you understand about jurisdiction?

    • Dear Ah Goy 6:49pm, you wanna know what was a real tragedy? You bumping your head when you were a baby! If the judenrat capos did not shut down the only exit in that area, than the people would have simply walked out, as many wanted to do within half an hour before the stampede erupted, the crowd would have thinned out, and there would have been a very high likelihood of no fatalities altogether. By the way, don’t bring the events of 110 years ago, as then the fatalities were caused by people congregating on a roof, and a roof fence, upon which people were leaning, collapsed – an issue unrelated to the contemporary tragedy; learn to differentiate between apples and oranges, you traitor fool.

      • 718 as I’m not the one who made the original comment.but I do say you have a big mouth with strong offensive words. would you dare say them in public. or would you be worried of being punched in the face? you think you’re a big tough guy on your multiple comments on this website. but alas I imagine your a scared kitty when things get serious!

        • Dear 7:18, Serious Bully, you are right, I am scared…. I am scared that you’ll run out of tissues when you’ll be crying for your mommy immediately procedng your girly punch attempt. When you are right you are right.

  8. There’s some צד to what he’s saying. The reality is, the site in Meron is run by different עסקנים and not by the state. Of course we’re afraid that is the state takes it over they will bring in the Reform and what not… but that could’ve been part of the טבע involved in causing this tragedy.

    • Dear WMD 6:58pm, there’s a tzad to your not knowing a difference between your elbow and other parts. Whatever askanim were supposed to run the show, it was the Israeli police(not under any askanim control to say the least) that locked up the only exit available in that area. If the judenrat capos did not prevent people from leaving, then the crowd would have been much less dense, and there would likely be no fatalities.

  9. WRONG Yiddineh:
    Members of every denomination of Judaism has the full right to practice their way of “Yiddishkeit”; without any interference from the (secular) Government. Especially in Eretz Yisroel.
    However, there is a Law ( Halacha) & injunction from our Talmudic Sages in numerous places that: “Dina D’Malchusa Dina”; namely, ‘The (secular) law of the Land is The Law. And MUST be abided by & adhered to, by ALL citizens, irrespective of religious affiliation & practice.
    “Learners’ can check this out; namely, Nedarim, 28a; Gitten, 10b; Baba Kama; 113a; Baba Basra, 54b.
    AND, now that ‘committed’ Jews read and/or learn ‘Perkei Avos’ between Pesach & Shavuos remember Avos,3:2, & I quote: “Rabbi Chanina….says; pray for the welfare of the (secular) Government…..’.
    Regretfully, many of our Fellow Co-Religionist citizens shirk this responsibility; feel that it does not behoove them to.
    AND, The Wise & the Learned will understand.
    Just came to mind. I remember, when growing in Montreal we attended the “old” Chevra Tehillim Shul. Every Shabbos, before “musaf” a prayer was recited for the health & welfare of King George VI. The British Monarch is the Head of the Commonwealth; irrespective of the fact that Parliament wields the power.

    • There is one difference between your examples and the the Zionists.
      As per the Chazon Ish and others, the Zionists are not a malchus; they are merely thugs who took power.
      So none of what you wrote is applicable to the Zionists.

    • Pedo the Apikoreis 7:21, you are completely wrong: there is only one Truth, and the Truth is Devar H’.
      Theree are no “many relativism truths” and there is no ethical right for the corrupt reform/conservative to exist – no matter the secular dictatorship’s “laws”, as the secular dictatorship is completely treasonous and corrupt to the core and it itself has no moral right to rule over Eretz Yisroel. Pedo, now I understand why you always support the socialist-fascists all over your other comments – you simply don’t have a concept of Emes, everything is a relativistic joke to you. Do tshuva old man, you may not have much time left in this world.

  10. Your reporting bias against Ganz is as strong as that of TOI against Charedim. Isn’t everyone saying we need to learn to work on achdus, perhaps even a message of this tragedy?

  11. Disgusting horrible animal! With no investigation, his main goal is to blame the victim! Blame your enemies! Disgusting politics.

  12. “…everyone has the right to practice their faith and traditions under the auspices of the state,””

    That would be funny if it weren’t so sad how untrue that is. The Zionists’ very purpose is to uproot Torah, and they shmad Torah Jews (and the others) at every chance they get, like their mandatory army drafts (even with “pitur”s) even for women; the Zionists are in good company with North Korea on that one.

    • you mean the people who built the country? how many jews would be marrying goyim if the state wasn’t established. you think the Arabs would have allowed mass Jewish emigration? you think under the Arabs the chareidi community would have grown? their would be a pogrom every Muslim Holliday. and the bulk of jewry would have ended up in america. how many jews in Israel in the last half a century married goyim? how many in america? its enough with the half thought out emotional responses stop acting like a bunch of preprogrammed numbskulls and actually analyze things.

  13. What’s so “OUTRAGEOUS”?

    More and more Israeli Chareidim have been calling for the same thing. Not in all areas of course, but you cannot continue to have a “state within a state”.

    • Actually, you can, and there examples of this all over the world, including Native American Reservations in the USA.

      But, in truth, it is the Zionists who need to leave and have the gentiles peacefully take over and let the Jews live.

      • 1:17 you are hilariously naive. the gentiles would deport 4/5th of the jews! and thats being generous and not taking into account the pogroms.. how many charedim decend from refugees after ww2 or emigres from America etc. what are you one of the people who think all charedim were here first? maybe some but many are recent emigres. you are calling for massive ethnic cleansing of jews. shame on you!

    • and how would that work in parliamentary democracy? not every place has to have the same form of democracy just to make you more comfortable.

  14. To Anonymous. May 6, 2021 at 10:52 am:

    I will not dignify your malignant, & ignorant ranting & raving with a rebuttal, & which you ended by cursing a fellow Jew. Nor will I stoop so low as to engage you in debate or intelligent discussion.
    Allow me to refer you to two (2) sources; one in “Kesuvim” & one at the conclusion of the “Amida” (‘Shemonei Esrei Prayer), which I presume you recite, with intense “kavana”, 3 times a day. And then, draw your own conclusions!!

    (1) Proverbs (‘Mishlei’), 26:4-5: ” Answer not a fool according to his folly, least you be like him yourself” “Answer a fool according to his folly, least he be wise in his own eyes”.
    (2) “Amida”; concluding Prayer: “My G-D guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceitfully…..”.

    “Zei Gesunt” & keep wallowing in your self righteousness & ignorance.

    • Dear 5:01am Pedo the nocturnal, in general a judenrat traitor and an apikoreis is not classified as a “fellow Jew”. I am not sure if you are in fact a genuine traitor or if you merely suffer from a traumatic brain injury, so I would be don lechaf zechus if I called you an insane idiot. And no, I would never curse a poor sick nebach such as you. It was you who interpreted as a curse my tshuva suggestion and observation of your advanced age which tends to result in less time left. My bracha to you, conditional on you being a part of Am Yisroel and not being a traitor, is to have a very long life. And refua shleima, of course, for all your ailments whether physical or psychological. Stop saying stupid treasonous things, and you’ll be treated with respect.

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