The hareidi public will fight the enlistment of Torah students in the IDF no matter what sanctions the government imposes, warned Rabbi Tuvia Schulzinger, the rabbi of the city of Kiryat Ata and a close associate of prominent hareidi leader Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Rabbi Schulzinger compared the expected anti-enlistment protests to recent violent riots in Ukraine.
“Remember what happened in Ukraine, the President had to step down. Here, too, if the powers that be fight us and religion, they will not succeed, none of them will succeed,” he declared.
“One million people will flood Jerusalem, and [Prime Minister] Netanyahu will need to step down,” he predicted.
Hareidi Jews would rather die than enlist, he predicted. “Rabbi Shach already said that we won’t stay in the country. People need to sacrifice for this, and it’s likely some will be killed in this war.
“But under no circumstances will we allow young men to be prevented from learning Torah,” he declared.
He expressed skepticism over the government’s ability to counter hareidi resistance to the enlistment law. “What are they going to do, put tens of thousands of men in jail?” he asked.
Rabbi Schulzinger argued that the real motive behind the enlistment law is a hatred of hareidi Jews, and a desire to change their way of life. “There is a deep hate of hareidi Jews, a hate led by Yair Lapid,” he accused.
“They want to change our faith. It won’t work,” he continued. “Tanks, APCs – nothing will crush us. The Torah is eternal.”
Pro-Enlistment Activist: Let Hareidi Jews Vent
Yoel Marshak, head of the Kibbutz Movement’s task force, said Thursday that police should show understanding in the face of hareidi rage.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Marshak called for the police and army to demonstrate restraint. “The hareidi community has the right to come together and protest,” he said.
“The responses are severe, because this really is a significant change. I call on everyone to show restraint, and to let them express their opinion about something that stands in opposition to everything they have believed until today,” he declared.
Marshak has been a long-time proponent of changing the law to require hareidi Torah students to enlist in the IDF like other Israeli men.
Hareidi political leaders who take part in anti-enlistment protests are merely putting on a show for appearances’ sake, he argued. “Those same representatives gave their approval to the Shaked Committee’s meetings… I mean, really,” he said.