This week, a prominent Rabbi walking the streets of Tel Aviv needed protection from the mob of left-wing hooligans, who were literally attacking him on his way to give a lecture.
Another prominent religious Jew, Yisrael Zeira, was also harrassed on the streets of Tel Aviv and needed protection. Yisrael Zeira heads an organization in Tel Aviv that runs Jewish programming that unites all Jews, religious and secular. His Rosh Yehudi organization has been doing that in Tel Aviv, and all over Israel, for close to 20 years.
So, who are those hooligans harassing/attacking religious Jews and what is going on?
Well, unfortunately, those hooligans are part of the anti-judicial reform protest movement, led by an organization called "Brothers in Arms", that with each day exposes itself as a movement of hate, nothing at all to do with any judicial reform.
One IDF reserve soldier recently described the anti-judicial reform "Brothers in Arms" organization this way:
"Brothers is Arms" is the the operational arm of the anti-judicial reform protest leaders, and it is showing us, right in front of our eyes, how they steal the value of unity - associated with the name of their organization "Brothers in Arms" - to turn it into a weapon of abysmal hatred...
“Brothers in Arms” is a well-funded private militia, protected by the justice system and other powerful systems in our society (i.e – academia and the media). It is a militia designed to silence, intimidate, attack and oppress anyone who differs from them in appearance, thought, race, belief or political opinion.
So, they are attacking these prominent religious jews, calling them names and telling them to leave Tel Aviv, because they believe that Tel Aviv should remain progresive, liberal, and basically without any Judaism. That is part of what their protest movement is actually about, minimizing the impact of our Jewish identity on the Jewish State of Israel.
The irony is, that while the official story of Tel Aviv is that it was settled by secular Jews to be a secular, liberal city in the state of the Jews, the truth is totally different.
In reality, the first neighborhood of Tel Aviv was settled by religious Jews. It was called Neve Tzedek.
Neve Tzedek was the first Jewish neighborhood built outside of Jaffa in 1887, and the founding families of this neighborhood were religious Sephardi Jews led by Aharon Chelouche.
Again, today, the narrative is that Tel Aviv is a liberal, secular, ahskenazi city, and they want to keep it that way. But in the beginning, there was a bustling religious community in Tel Aviv, with many Sephardi Jews!
Not only that, but the first Mayor of Tel Aviv, Meir Dizengoff, who was a secular Jew, issued a public call against desecrating the Shabbat. In his plea, Dizengoff emphasized that hurting the Shabbat is akin to hurting Jewish solidarity and unity, and ended by saying: “If you keep the Shabbat, the Shabbat will safeguard us.” This is all written up in this article here:
This is the famous leader of secular Tel Aviv!
Today's secular Israelis attacking religious Jews in Tel Aviv must be reminded about the truth about the history of Tel Aviv and about their Jewish identity, that even the first Mayor of Tel Aviv, a secular Jew, understood.
Now all this points out the lies of the narrative that we are all constantly being fed about Israel and the "progressive" values the protest movement is ostensibly trying to protect.
Want another irony? These “progressive”, “democracy” loving protestors in Tel Aviv are the same ones who think we are “occupiers” in Judea and Samaria and want to expel Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria. So, if they don’t want us in Judea and Samaria and they also don’t want us in Tel Aviv, where do they want us?
So where is the silver lining in the growth of this anti-Jewish hatred and violence that we see taking place?
My friend Rabbi Eli Mischel helped me understand this in an interview I did with him last year. He explained to me that Rav Kook actually predicted this. In one of his Igrot he wrote that the day will come when some secular Israeli Jews end up hating Judaism and Torah, but not to despair because it is part of the Redemption process.
To watch the full interview with Rabbi Mischel with this inspiring message you can watch here:
We are Experiencing the Birth-pains of Redemption
That is why I'm not getting depressed about the growing anti-Jewish hatred developing before our eyes, even though it is extremely sad to see.
When push comes to shove, and people truly dig deep into who is behind the anti-democratic protest movement taking place for months already in the name of "democracy", one finds out pretty quickly that this whole movement is based on hatred. Hatred of Jewish values and hatred of Jews that represent those Jewish values (a hatred for the haredi, national-religious and the "settlers").
That is why we have ex-security leaders and ex-political leaders, saying harmful and untrue things about Israel that we call out our enemies for saying about us, and we have influencers, like the recent Israeli radio anchor, who are voicing truly anti-semitic hatred towards fellow Jews.
This is the essential basis of the protest movement. It is not a protest movement against a judicial reform that is totally democratic, and that isn't even happening, and it is not a protest movement against a "dictatorship', because in actual dictatorships they would be jailed or killed for voicing their opinions that way.
I have posted the Haaretz newspaper headlines before, which are quite clear about this exact point.
After the results of the recent elections, Haaretz ran a headline titled "Too Few Israelis for a Secular Revolt". And then after the the so-called 'judicial-reform protest' began, it rejoiced with a new, celebratory headline stating clearly "Israel's Long-awaited Secular Uprising is Finally Here".
How much clearer can they get? Those two Haaretz headlines say it all.
Now, let's take this issue even deeper.
I have already written about former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, on how he is one of the main organizers behind today's anti-judicial reform protest movement that declares that it is trying to defend Israel's "democracy". However, this lie is easily exposed since Barak was caught planning this protest movement back in the year 2020 on a recently published zoom, which can be seen here.
In that zoom Barak clearly calls out for civil disobedience against Netanyahu and he clearly incites violence. This zoom was back in 2020, years before this government was created, and the judicial reform was ever announced.
Hence, nobody should be deceived to believe that today's protest movement has anything to do with judicial reform or protecting Israel's democracy from this "far-right" government, as they like to tell the world via the establishment media.
It seems like former Prime Minister Barak is no longer content to keep his dangerous, inciting rhetoric in Israel. He was just interviewed by CBS news.
Former Prime Minister Incites Civil War, Again
In that program he spews lie after lie and, again, "warns" of civil war, which is his way of inciting the public to civil war, in order to topple Netanyahu's government.
Here is one very dangerous quote from the interview:
“He [Netanyahu] is heavily isolated, desperate, he’s out of focus and balance, and his government is blatantly illegitimate, even illegal,” Barak told CBS’s Errol Barnett, adding that protest led by the prime minister’s proposed overhaul may cost lives. “Some people might lose their lives along the way, we’ll have to face toil and sweat and tears. There might be some violence, which always comes from the right wing,” Barak said in heavily accented English.
Let's break down his message.
First of all, Netanyahu is not isolated. Netanyahu runs a government, democratically elected, that has the support of more than half the Jewish population in Israel. It is Barak who is anti-democratic by calling this government illegitimate and inciting the public to topple the government based on lies.
There is nothing illegitimate or illegal about the government. It is Barak and his insurrection that is illegal.
If Israel had a proper and just justice system, Barak would be tried for insurrection. But, Israel has a progressive justice system, so he is protected by the justice system, the academic world and the media.
With regard to the violence, the daily violence today is coming from his hooligans on the left, the ones who profess to be "liberal" and wanting to "protect democracy". Note the mob attacks on the two prominent religious Jews in Tel Aviv.
And, once again, Barak says publicly, this time on the world stage on CBS, that "some people will lose their lives". This is blatant incitement as he and his minions keep on saying that they will do everything to stop this government. Click here for more information about one of the leading organizations taking the lead in the protest movement.
For a positive spin, a friend of mine gave the following insight after seeing this Barak interview: "The fact that Barak decided to go on a media tour (despite his poor English) shows how worried he is that his plan is falling apart because of all the PR Bibi is doing now…"
No clue if that is true, but it is certainly an interesting point.
What must we do? We must call out the despicable and dangerous lies and hatred of this insane protest movement, and spread love instead.
With each day, more people are waking up to the lies and hatred that are the basis of this protest movement.
Now, what is the good news?
The people leading the protests with their hate and lies are such a tiny minority in Israel. It looks much bigger than it is because they have so much money behind this traitorous protest movement, and are totally supported by the establishment media 24/7.
Two other events took place last night that show the true face of Israel.
Event #1 took place at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv. It was a packed house with religious, secular, haredi, who all paid for tickets to come together and have bridge-building conversations, because they all want to focus on strengthening our unity.
Event #2 took place in the Sultan's Pool Stadium outside the Old City walls of Jerusalem. All types of Jews, religious, traditional, secular etc. all came together for a pre-Yom Kippur selichot concert. How do I know? I was walking nearby seeing all the people walking to the concert.
These two events symbolize the true state of the Jewish people in Israel. Not the disgraceful, hate-filled protest movement in the name of “democracy”.
Without the tremendous funding and the support of the media, nobody would know about the tiny minority filled with hatred inciting towards civil war. They are a sideshow getting all the attention because that’s the agenda to topple this government. Nothing to do with judicial reform, just a basic hatred towards Jewish values and our authentic national Jewish identity.
The insane thing is that if you try to explain this to a good, normative, patriotic Israeli, who is taking part in the protest movement, he or she will totally ignore all facts and logic, and still hold on to the lies they are hearing from the protest leaders and the media 24/7. That is how successful these protest leaders have been, unfortunately.
With it all, I'm extremely optomistic. We are a strong, united people, and we will overcome this tiny minority spreading hate, violence and inciting violence, these people who claim to be “enlightened” and “liberals”. Orwell is laughing in his grave.
Stay positive! Even with the passionate divide, we are one people and we will overcome this!!! How will we overcome it? Honestly, I don't know. But I know we will!
Hold on to your faith and don’t listen to the agenda-driven media.