Mizrahi-song superstars Moshe Peretz and Omer Adam incurred the wrath of Israel's feminists Friday when they expressed their support for the traditional division of labor between mothers and fathers, in a joint interview to Israel Hayom. A genderist MK is already telling them to apologize.
"I work hard, but I do everything possible for her,” said Peretz of his six-month-old daughter Michaela, adding that he and his wife, Yarden, “understand each other and each remembers his natural place. A mother has her natural place and a husband has his natural place. Once you start confusing the natural roles, switching sides, it turns into a mess, and 50% of the couples divorce.
"A woman needs to understand her natural place,” he added. “I'm not saying her place is in the kitchen. Yarden has everything, she can pamper herself, and I give her all of the love and respect in the world. But like all children, the girl goes to mommy. It's human nature and the nature of all living things. A mother feels the offspring better than the husband, the father. You mustn't mix things. This order always has to be maintained.”
Adam interjected: “This is one of the problems of today's age, that women and men are starting to get their places confused.”
"Each one takes another piece of ground and another, enlarges his own periphery, until he starts eyeing the other's territory," Peretz explained. "That is where the problems between couples begin. With us, most of the time I have no idea what Yarden is doing with the girl.”
Asked if changing the baby's diapers and feeding her are all done by Yarden, Peretz replied: “Of course. I can give a bottle, no problem. I've changed a diaper, but only with pee.”
"I'm not saying a woman should only stand in the kitchen,” Adam explained to reporter Naama Lansky. “I don't think that a woman shouldn't develop and grow and become wiser. But a woman should remain a woman and a man should remain a man. In accordance with the DNA. We are extroverts, you are introverts. It's not that I'm a chauvinist, but there's a problem when a woman tries to burst through her natural boundaries.”
"It's the most beautiful thing when a woman has a career,” Peretz added. “All men should merit to have women with careers. That way they're busy and don't drive us crazy, it's great,” he said, laughing. “But with all that, let her first be a mother and carry out her role 100%. Like our mothers. The mothers of the past.”
Real men change poo
The joint interview caused consternation among both female and male feminists. A 34-year-old father, Daniel Harush, wrote in a post that was “liked” by over 20,000 people and shared by over 4,000, that since he became a father, he has discovered “more and more fathers who refuse to accept the order that Peretz and Adam present as a heavenly decree. They are involved in every detail in their children's lives, they make sure to have days in which they can leave work early to spend time with them, they stay home with them when they are sick and generally are a meaningful element in their lives."
"And guess what – not only are they not headed for the Rabbinate [to divorce], they have a great relationship and a happy family. There are many others who want to be like that, but are afraid to talk about it because people like Peretz and Adam will then say that they are confused and acting against the laws of nature, or because their boss won't understand, or because they grew up like that and they have a hard time liberating themselves of the old order.”
A real man, he concluded, changes his baby's diapers – "even if it has poo in it.”
MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu) called Peretz and Adam's statements “shocking," in a Facebook post Sunday, which she dedicated to Michaela, Peretz's infant daughter, and to Adam's “future daughter.”
"I wish you success in everything you desire, that you will not feel that you have natural boundaries or a glass ceiling, that you will know that you can do whatever you want to do,” she wrote. “As for you, Omer Adam and Moshe Peretz, take back what you said. Apologize.
"You are great and popular singers, you have innumerable fans, male and female, who take your statements very seriously... You've messed up royally.”