‘A national disgrace’: Netanyahu, MKs decry rabbi who hurled abuse at Zamir at anti-draft rally

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday strongly condemned the haredi rabbi who hurled abuse at Zamir during a Bnei Brak anti-military draft protest, saying that “Even when there are disagreements among us, there is absolutely no place for serious incitement against the IDF and its commanders who protect us all.”

On Monday, the rabbi verbally attacked Zamir, saying, “may his name and memory be erased,” after a soldier was sent to prison because he wore a ‘Messiah’ patch.

Rabbi Aryeh Yazdi also told protesters in the central Israeli city that Israel was an “impure country” whose army “indoctrinates people into committing the most severe sins in the Torah.”

The Shas party announced that the rabbi’s statements did not reflect the party’s or the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah’s (Council of Torah Sages) opinions.

Rabbi Moshe Maya, a former MK in the Shas party, released a separate statement on the event, saying that he had been “greatly saddened” to hear the insults levied at Zamir.

“This is not the way of the Torah to express oneself in this manner,” he stated. “We pray every time a Torah scroll is brought out, on Shabbat and on weekdays, for the success of the soldiers who sacrifice their lives for the well-being of the Jewish people.”

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman said that the protesters’ incitement against Israel, the IDF, and Zamir was “a national disgrace and a direct result of the draft-dodger government.”

The government, he said, had chosen to provide the dodgers with political backing in order to maintain their own power, “even at the cost of dismantling the IDF and destroying Israeli society.”

“I am still awaiting a sharp condemnation from the heads of the haredi parties, including MK Aryeh Derei, a member of the political-security cabinet,” Liberman added.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid also harshly condemned the haredi protesters, accusing Netanyahu and his ministers of remaining silent while the haredis “are inciting against our fighters, spilling the blood of the Chief of Staff.”

“Not a word of condemnation, not a single arrest warrant for incitement to violence,” he said. “Our soldiers are heroes, this government is a heap of cowards.”

Rabbi’s kollel receives thousands in government support

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett pointed out that the kollel of the rabbi who verbally attacked Zamir receives 653,000 shekels in government support each year.

“*You* are the ones paying him his salary,” he said.

He added that in his planned government, “Anyone who preaches against Zionism and against the State of Israel will not receive a single shekel from the state.”

Anyone choosing not to work or serve in the military would also receive no government assistance, he added.

“That’s it. This is the state’s new deal with the citizens of Israel: Not a Zionist – not on my dime,” Bennett wrote.

With this new system, he announced, millions of haredis would join the workforce and IDF service, bringing Israel to a “golden age.”

“In ten years, they will thank us for restoring to them responsibility for their lives, their dignity, and the future of their children,” he said.

Bennett also called out Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Shas head Arye Deri, saying that “we don’t need your condemnations, we need to stop funding draft dodging.

President Isaac Herzog cautioned that there was no place for curses, insults, or degrading language, “certainly not when it comes to the supreme commander of the IDF and of our soldiers, our sons and daughters.”

“I condemn these statements in the strongest terms and call on all of us to act with respect and responsibility,” he stated.

“One of the great missions of the next government of change will be to bring about a dramatic change in the relationship between the state and the Haredi public, and primarily the Haredi establishment,” stated MK Gilad Kariv.

“Yeshivas and institutions that will be involved in incitement and in ongoing calls to break the law will be cut off sharply and clearly from all state support,” he said. “After a series of determined sanctions, the level of incitement of this sort will fade immensely.”

Haredi incitement could end in blood, Eisenkot, Gantz warn

Yashar! party head Gadi Eisenkot called the incitement “a reckless crossing of a red line that effectively permits the spilling of the blood of IDF commanders and soldiers. 

“This low point is a direct product of the culture of hatred and division that Netanyahu has been dragging the country into for years in order to stay in power,” he said, accusing Netanyahu of “cynical political maneuvering and coordination with the Arab parties” in order to generate a majority for the “draft-dodging law.”

“Not for the benefit of the people of Israel, but for the sake of staying in his seat,” Eisenkott added about Netanyahu. “Afterward, he will even stand in front of the cameras and preach to us about unity and shared destiny.”

Blue and White chairman and former defense minister Benny Gantz also warned that the words shared at the protest “could end in bloodshed.”

He also warned that the words had not arisen in a vacuum, but that “Whoever in the morning promotes laws that encourage draft evasion and invents stories that never happened about arrests during meetings – should not be surprised when in the evening there is incitement against the IDF.”

Ariella Roitman contributed to this report.

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