Is Raf OK? -- Installment #97
2024-04-02 -- Tel Aviv
Tags: 3 Min Read; Jumbo Relief Area
Post #96 is about the large demonstration I attended in Jerusalem on March 31. It was not sent by email. Access it at the zimberdvar web site or via this link
I just returned from a film, a new Israeli film that included Q&A with the creator. It was heavy. Walking home, I can report that the Tel Aviv street scene (bars, restaurants, etc.) is in full tilt. I waited at least ten minutes to order a slice of pizza.
Questions of Leadership...
Arabic language sources report:
The Hamas Interior Ministry in an official publication:
PA intelligence officers infiltrated the northern Gaza Strip yesterday under the direction of Majed Faraj (head of PA intelligence) in order to create chaos on the internal front in the Gaza Strip. We arrested 10 of them.
We will cripple with an iron hand anyone who tries to play a role that serves only the goals of the occupation.
In Tulkarm (West Bank), Islamic Jihad and P.A. police are shooting at each other.
Video below: Palestinian media reports that Islamic Jihad operatives in Tulkarm took over a vehicle belonging to the Palestinian Authority's security forces, "brandished" it and drove it around the streets of the Nur Shams refugee camp.
Earlier today, a prominent operative of the Islamic Jihad in Tulkarm died of his wounds after being shot a few days ago by members of the PA's security apparatus.
From Gaza
Arabic language sources report that the IDF scattered leaflets over the center of the Gaza Strip - the eighth issue of "Alwaqa" (“The Reality”)
On the cover page are pictures of wanted Hamas officials including Yahya Sinwar, Muhammad Deif and Ra'ad Saad (of which there were unverified reports that he was killed in Shifa Hospital) - there is also a phone number for those who want to turn them in...
Translation: The Reality: Be careful! In this newspaper you read only the truth and nothing else! What did these heroes of the resistance achieve at Shifa Hospital?
(Raf believes the large panel of small photos are Hamas officers who have been killed in the war.)
Questions of Famine
The new price list of goods for the north of the Gaza Strip beginning on April 1, courtesy of the "Central Government Emergency Committee"
Eretz Nehederet: Israeli Politics
Haredim (Ultra Orthodox) in the Military
Anshel Pfeffer writing in Haaretz, April 1, 2024:
The 22nd day of Adar (II), 5784 (aka April 1, 2024) should be an historic date. The torato umanuto ("Torah is his profession") exemption has ended, 76 years since it came into existence – before the State of Israel's official establishment – to excuse 400 yeshiva students from serving in the military. From Monday, Torah study can no longer be considered grounds for not enlisting in the Israel Defense Forces. Nothing much has immediately changed, though.
The IDF is starting to plan for the possibility of large numbers of ultra-Orthodox recruits, but for now these plans are just "on paper" and are highly unlikely to materialize in the coming months – certainly not while the IDF is at war and has much more pressing matters. Haredi platoons in the Golani and Givati brigades are probably still at least a decade away.
Also, despite their wailing last week when it transpired that the Netanyahu government was incapable of coming up with a law regulating the exemption and the High Court of Justice refused yet another extension, the ultra-Orthodox parties are in no rush to leave this governing coalition. For now, they're waiting to see if Benjamin Netanyahu, who will stop at nothing to remain in power, can muster a majority in the next Knesset session to pass a law, and if the incompetent Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will find a way around the court's ruling to cut off payments to the yeshivas where young Haredi men study Torah.
Right now, they don't have a better alternative. Staying in the coalition means they will remain in control of powerful government ministries and budgets worth billions of shekels. Besides Netanyahu, there is no other potential prime minister who will restore the military exemption. Benny Gantz may have been prepared to do so, but even he now realizes the Israelis supporting him in the polls won't stand for it. The enlistment of young Haredi men may yet be the issue that brings down the government, but probably not before the Knesset session ends in late July.
The implications of the exemption ending go far beyond the survival prospects of the Netanyahu government and the size of the IDF's draft. It's a pivotal moment in the history of the Haredi-Israeli society, the end of its third age (or generation).
Relief Area
Alef: Eretz Nehederet: Eurovision (2 min)
Bet: It's the Mossad's Fault...
Gimmel
Dalet
Hey
Vav: NYC Subway Station
Zayin -- Purim, As Commemorated in Iran...
(A few min long. Persian-accent Hebrew with English subs)
With that much Relief, it’s time to publish! Seems like a content-heavy week. (You're welcome?) (The Knesset is about to go on vacation for a few weeks, maybe the news cycle will slow?)
Yeah yeah. Fat chance. I know.
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K.)