Yoaz Hendel, chairman of the Zionist Right party, delivered a blistering attack on Israel’s Chareidi political parties in a contentious interview, declaring that he would refuse to join a government with them and accusing their opposition to military enlistment of amounting to a denial of the Torah.
Hendel, who recently announced a joint political run with former minister Chili Tropper, made the remarks during an interview with Yossi Sargovsky in the Kikar HaShabbat studio. Throughout the interview, Hendel rejected compromise over the military draft and directed particularly harsh criticism at Shas chairman Aryeh Deri.
Asked about his alliance with Tropper at a time when some polls show their party hovering near the electoral threshold, Hendel said the partnership resulted from “an understanding that politically, this is the right thing to do.” He then outlined the principle he said would determine his future political alliances.
“The principles should be what dictate political alliances. I have one principle – a Zionist government without Chareidi and Arab parties.”
Hendel was subsequently challenged over comparisons he has made between the Chareidi community and lawlessness in the Bedouin and Arab sectors. The interviewer asked: “Can you really compare Chareidim in Bnei Brak, where the crime rate is close to zero and their volunteerism in emergency organizations is enormous, to crime among the Bedouins?”
Hendel insisted that his comparison was not about criminal behavior but about what he views as a failure to accept obligations to the state.
“It’s not about crime, it’s about a lack of commitment to the state. My Chareidi brothers – and I also have Chareidi family – what they have done over the last three years pains me much more than what is happening with the Arabs… I don’t have a bad word to say about the chessed organizations, but I have many bad words to say about the denial of the Torah. There is an explicit commandment to go out to a milchemes mitzvah, and they choose to deliberately violate it because of financial considerations and political considerations.”
Turning to the broader debate over military service and the status of those engaged in full-time Torah study, Hendel said he does not dismiss the importance of Torah learning but believes every Israeli citizen must also perform some form of national service.
“I want every Israeli citizen to do something for the state. Arab, Chareidi, secular, left-wing, right-wing – anyone who doesn’t do anything cannot receive anything from the state, and he also cannot make decisions for me.”
Asked whether Torah study itself qualifies as a contribution to the country, Hendel acknowledged that it does, but maintained that it should not provide a broad exemption from military service.
“Let him sit and learn – and enlist. There can be some sort of test for iluyim, a small percentage, but the Chareidi parties make sure that even those who don’t learn Torah, street kids, shababnikim, don’t do anything for the state. That is parasitism.”
The interviewer pushed back, arguing that such an approach amounts to “dropping an atomic bomb in broad daylight” by suddenly turning thousands of young fathers into draft evaders rather than gradually bringing them into the workforce and military or national service. Such a policy, he argued, could ultimately strengthen Chareidi parties by validating their warnings about government sanctions.
Hendel refused to soften his position.
“I’m not their representative and I’m not their lawyer. It cannot be that a person comes, receives funding from the state and doesn’t perform service… A defense minister (Gallant) is a political operative who encourages mass draft-dodging. We are short tens of thousands of soldiers to hold all the fronts.”
The interview grew even more heated when the discussion turned to Shas and its longtime chairman, Aryeh Deri.
“There is no party that has harmed the State of Israel more than Shas,” Hendel declared. “They are the most racist party there is toward Ashkenazi Chareidim.”
Asked to explain the striking accusation, Hendel pointed to discrimination against Sephardic girls in seminaries and accused Deri of perpetuating a political system that discourages even young Chareidi men who are no longer religious from joining the military.
“Because they are the ones who made sure that seminaries would continue discriminating against girls of Sephardic origin. Deri is the one who prevents the shababnikim – those who aren’t even religious anymore – from enlisting. What, do they have blue blood? Deri prevents it. Look at the chief rabbis, the city rabbis – they all have Deri’s DNA.”
Near the conclusion of the interview, Hendel said he intends to position himself as one of the strongest opponents of political compromises with the Chareidi parties.
“I am in the most determined place possible. I will be the right-wing marker in the political system. I’m not going to sit with them, I’m not going to compromise with them on anything, not one bit… We must not compromise with the Chareidi parties. Otherwise, we will break apart here into autonomies.”
Despite his sweeping criticism of Chareidi political leadership, Hendel concluded by drawing a distinction between the parties and the broader Chareidi population, telling Chareidi Israelis that he considers them his brothers and does not intend to give up on their integration into Israeli society.
“You are my brothers. I love you. Because of that love and shared destiny, and because of the tremendous potential that exists in Chareidi society, I am not going to give up on you. The ones giving up on you are the Chareidi parties. I want every Chareidi to learn, serve as part of the mitzvah of milchemes mitzvah, and have every opportunity in the world.”
{Matzav.com}
