"Making Jew-Hatred Great Again"

BS"D

20 Kislev, 5780 °° Dec. 18, '19

Making Jew-Hatred Great Again:

Anti-Religious Coercion by the Israeli Army, Targeting Yet Another Ba'alat Teshuvah.

By Binyomin Feinberg, Contributor to The Jewish Press*

FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com

* The perspectives and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of The Jewish Press.

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To check for updates throughout the week please visit ("Updates for Kislev" at: )

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_UDTjX9fB6CORv5KjwI04HP4qMI5ZgRdKNcsp4YHohg

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Israeli government officials are known for being outspoken in their criticism of Diaspora Jew-haters - real, imagined, and/or exacerbated, from England to Turkey, and beyond. But the domestic, home-grown variety seems to evade their eagle-eyes. Moreover, our Sages exhort us that those who cause us to sin pose a graver danger than those who threatened our physical survival, "Gadol hamachatiyoh yosair min ha'horgoh." The actively antireligious elements in Israel - intent on drawing Jews away from Torah - are thus more of a concern than those bonafide Jew-haters who pose only a physical danger.

As a policy, an official decision by the Israeli government was made in the Summer (Av) of 2013 CE, making it an official priority to draft religious girls into the Military. It is absolutely prohibited according to all leading Torah authorities, across the spectrum, for women - religious or otherwise - to serve in the military. It is likewise prohibited to seek to convince girls, religious or not, to enlist. How much more wicked is it to FORCE girls, religious or not, into the military.

Besides being prohibited, it's also inhumane, for obvious reasons. To quote one victim of sexual abuse (who B"H escaped the military), it's known within the Army that "Ha'Banot ba'Tzavah hain Mizron Tzahali." (We will leave that untranslated here.)

The women are not needed in the Army to serve the country, but rather to serve the men running the Army. None of this is rocket science.

This background perspective accentuates the rish'us (evil) of persecuting girls and women who refuse to be forced to serve in the Army. But as a policy, the Israeli government does exactly that; it's persecutes those girls, including girls who articulate specific religious objections, objections incontrovertibly rooted in Torah Law. This is undeniably "antireligious persecution." If it would be perpetrated by non-Jews, abroad, Israeli officials would be tripping over themselves to grandstand in front of microphones against antisemitism. But over their own strains of Jew-hatred, the silence is deafening.

Case in point: Dana B., who lives in northern Israel, was recently required to enlist in the Army, despite being a recent Baalat Teshuva (returnee to observance of Judaism, aka "BT"). Her parents have been observant for about four years. They are similarly, and rightfully adamant against her enlistment in the military. She presented her religious certification in January ('19). Being only recently observant, and of course having studied in a non-religious school, the Army summoned her immediately to a "Rayon Dat," a religious interrogation, without allowing her the much-needed time to prepare - and without any legal counsel, advocate, or any accompanying party altogether. The latter protocol is standard Army policy, in defiance of common sense and deference to religious liberty (apparently a concept somewhat foreign to them). Predictably, she failed her religious test. Her application for a standard religious exemption was thus denied.

Since then, she has been harassed by the Army to follow enlistment procedures, and she's refused, with the strong support of her parents, who've hired their own attorney. However, the attorney has apparently not seen much success ("fighting City Hall"). She's recently reached out to activists to help her. Her case may not be an easy one. Her draft date has been set by the Army, and she needs our support and tefillos.

This neo-"Jihadist" sentiment against baalot teshuva, the recently observant, reveals a deep seated antipathy towards practicing, committed Jews. Judaism is like a marriage, it requires commitment. Once committed to follow the Torah, one is "Torah observant," even if at the moment still ignorant of the laws. Learning the practical laws is a process. Thus, demanding knowledge at the initial stages of commitment is unreasonable. Denying her religiosity is cruel. And denying her religious exemption is inexcusably biased. Even from a secular perspective, her position is fully understandable, and acceptable. But the perspective of the Army brass is not merely secular, but rather antireligious.

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Netanyahu waxes eloquent about pidyon shevuyim - while his own government (or what passes for such) is tormenting untold numbers of unquestionably innocent Israeli girls in military prisons for their refusal to serve in the Israeli military.

On Tues., Netanyahu "vowed to secure the release of an Israeli-American backpacker who is serving a seven-year-plus prison sentence in Russia for a minor drug offense," according to an article in the Times of Israel.

“I am not a magician, but one thing I assure you. I will bring Naama Issachar home,” Netanyahu told supporters at a rally in Haifa where he was campaigning ahead of a leadership primary within his Likud party. Issachar, who’s been held in Russia since April, was arrested over a small amount of marijuana found in her luggage during a stopover in Moscow."

"Issachar was sentenced in October to seven and a half years in prison for drug smuggling after authorities in April found nine grams of marijuana in her luggage before she boarded a connecting flight on her way from India to Israel. She had not planned to enter Russia during the stopover," according to the TOI.

We are not commenting on the case of the young lady in Russian prison, or critiquing any legitimate efforts to free her. We're pointing out the rank hypocrisy of Netanyahu, to say: while grandstanding as a savior, clean your own house, as well.

The human rights atrocities committed by the Israeli government against undeniably innocent Israeli girls (religious or otherwise) remind us of the tyrannical regimes of the past, regimes whose Socialist mentality reverberates through contemporary Israeli "rightwing" (sic) leftists, channeling Stalin in their abuse of innocent girls, girls who refuse to submit to the hopelessness of mandatory exploitation under IDF officers.