In a fiery speech delivered Wednesday, MK Moshe Gafni of Yahadut HaTorah sharply criticized the Religious Zionist Party and Minister of Aliyah and Integration Ofir Sofer for taking part in a demonstration calling for the drafting of bnei yeshiva into the IDF.
Speaking at the annual gathering of the Yeshiva Student Union in Ashkelon, Gafni painted a grim picture of the current government’s makeup: “We face a nearly impossible reality.
“Our partners are secular, Torah study isn’t at the forefront of their minds, and that’s at best. At worst, they oppose it.”
He turned his attention to the Religious Zionist Party: “There are the Mizrachists (religious Zionists) who are our partners, and they have this minister, Ofir Sofer, who is participating today in a march against Torah learners.”
Taking his criticism further, Gafni condemned Sofer’s involvement in the protest: “He’s a minister thanks to us. Ungrateful. We raised this government, we raised them up to the position of minister, and they work against us; it’s terrible.”
Gafni went on to underscore the centrality of Torah to the Jewish nation’s survival: “I said on the floor of the Knesset: ‘The people of Israel have no right to exist with Torah study. In all the exiles for thousands of years, there were Torah learners, and they are the ones who kept the people of Israel unified. Thanks to those who studied the Torah, we came to the land of Israel.’”
He also addressed the decision by Yahadut HaTorah and other chareidi parties to support the state budget, explaining why they didn’t use it as leverage: “We could have toppled the government, the state didn’t have a budget, not only would the war have been harmed, the haredi public would have been harmed. But from now on, us voting with the coalition won’t be a given. The behavior toward us is terrible.”
In response to Gafni’s comments, Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Solomon of the Religious Zionist Party defended his colleague and the protest: “Minister Sofer is ungrateful? Is the public that fights and sacrifices its life for the State of Israel ungrateful? The ingratitude is that of the sector that doesn’t report for Israel’s war against its enemy and complains about those who protest it. I also marched in this important march with great pride. We will die if we don’t enlist.”
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