Updated 4/30/2024
Last week, I saw an article saying how the Israeli government made a statement that opposed Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. She urged the government to obey the high court's order to begin drafting Haredim and stop paying stipends, but the government stated they do not need to start mass conscription of the Orthodox nor stop paying yeshiva students (students in qualifying Jewish religious study) until the end of the year. The article I noted in
the last update about the attorney general's comments stated the Haredim's religious exemptions would expire on the first of this month, April.
The Israeli government's reasons to postpone conscription appeared to merely be excuses when I have seen other articles noting that their military needs more soldiers. They also claim they need to determine if they could "absorb" yeshiva students, which implies that the Haredim need special treatment. They only amount to about 13% of the population
[2.1] while the military had no complaints to conscript everyone else. The government's actions to ignore the high court's order and postpone action only show how their leaders and their orthodox backers continue to be hypocritical about being highly ethical. What I see are more
examples of unrighteous judgment in their leadership that I have spoken against before.
My comments to The Times of Israel article, "Government says it isn’t required to draft Haredi men, nor end funding to yeshivas", was as follows:
Minister Ty Alexander: Authority that does not respect its own governing and judicial authority is hardly better than a dictatorship and will not keep power unless they resort to complete authoritarianism.
Just rulings are the work of God, but for leadership to be evil in seats of honor is hateful to Him (Mishlei/Proverbs 16:11-12)
And what's more, soon after I made public comment about the government's
position, I saw another article about the Haredim trying to enact regulations "under the table" that failed to pass in the legislature
[2.2]. The new rules would give them much more power over rabbinical appointments in local governments and reduce the number of female appointments from 40% to 33%. That article was only published the day before the other, but I noted the common theme of orthodoxy trying to circumvent legal and righteous governing, so I made the following comment in the article, "New regulations would expand Haredi control over municipal rabbis, sideline women":
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-regulations-would-expand-haredi-control-over-municipal-rabbis-sideline-women>Minister Ty Alexander: In a comment to another Times of Israel article today, I noted how corrupt authority is an abomination. That was also about the rabbinate's refusal to submit to lawful authority, where here, they try to change regulations because they could not do it through lawful process.
And so I must repeat a comment I made in the other article: Just rulings are the work of God, but for leadership to be evil in seats of honor is hateful to Him (Mishlei/Proverbs 16:11-12)
If these things were not enough of an outrage, this past weekend I noted articles criticizing how the United States was announcing they would sanction the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, an Israeli ultra-orthodox unit, for human rights violations[2.3, 2.4]. This is a unit of Haredim men made to cater to their religious needs, even giving them extra time to study scripture. Their "special" requirements are likely the reason the IDF says they need to determine if they could actively conscript many Haredim.
In the days following that article, I saw Israel and many religious supporters of Israel condemning the possible sanctions, but I did not see any good reasons why the sanctions should not be enacted. People of God should know better than to give preferential treatment, for we are told to not judge unfairly. Do not favor the poor or show preference to the rich. Judge your neighbor fairly (Leviticus/Vayikra 19:15); Judge the people with righteous judgment (Deuteronomy/Devarim 16:18). It is not good to show partiality to the guilty, nor to deprive the righteous in judgment (Proverbs/Mishlei 18:5), and do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment (John 7:24).
However, as of this date, the political pressure from the Israeli government to not sanction the IDF seems to have worked, at least for now. The United States has not confirmed the sanctions, which would keep funds and training away from the sanctioned unit (As of 4/30/2024 the U.S. has not sanctioned any IDF unit, but has noted other Israeli units with ethics violations[2.6]). This is poor judgment as it would hardly hurt Israel's image further to go through with the sanctions, because they have already damaged their international reputation with many failures of leadership. The United States backing off this hurts its reputation, meanwhile, Israel denies accountability, again. More hypocrisy and unrighteous judgment in leadership.
The allegations for the sanctions were thoroughly investigated in the past two years[2.5] and Israeli Labor Party leader, Merav Michaeli is quoted, "Instead of wising up and dealing with the situation, we get yet another dose of denial and foot-dragging, lies and covering up the bitter reality. The Netzah Yehuda Battalion should have been disbanded many years ago... the battalion legitimizes settler violence and kills Palestinians for no real reason and abuses Palestinian detainees. To defend the Netzah Yehuda unit as an integral part of the IDF casts a heavy shadow over the entire IDF and damages its credibility"[2.5].
The correct actions to take are clear, but Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said it was "utter madness" to sanction the IDF while Israel is fighting for its existence[2.3]. Furthermore, the Israeli government wants to move the Netzah Yehuda unit into national security and the police force. The preferential treatment and unjust judgments were clear (no serious penalties were given to soldiers involved in unethical violence, which was why the United States was going to announce sanctions under the Leahy Law), so I made the following comment in The Times of Israel article, "Israel aghast as US said poised to sanction IDF unit with history of abuses":
Minister Ty Alexander: Smotrich said it is “utter madness” to sanction the IDF while Israel is fighting for its existence. It is not Israel's existence I am worried about. What is madness is that the IDF not discipline their soldiers according to higher standards of morality that is expected for any who claim divine stewardship. But then, they claim to conduct warfare and their military by the highest ethical standards possible. And what have we seen from the Gaza Hamas War? Much of the world has turned against Israel for her poor stewardship.
If Israel’s general leadership fails to conduct themselves by high standards, there should be little surprise at the conduct of ultra-right units who deem themselves to be of higher divine standards than everyone else.
And now they want to move these holier-than-thou people into the police force and national security? By the standards of a righteous nation, their units would be destroyed and replaced, and all soldiers found to be part of immoral actions sent to state military prisons. Absolutely shameful.
Israel does not need these kinds of soldiers or units. All must participate in accordance with the standards of the whole. And if you claim to fight for God, you will be held to higher standard by Him.
Military service is not yeshiva, either, which obviously has not given Netzah Yehuda any better moral conduct, for they do not know how to walk in God’s commands to not harm your neighbors - Judge your neighbor fairly… Do not stand idly when the life of your neighbor is in danger… rebuke your neighbor without bringing sin on yourself… Love your neighbor as yourself. Those are the words of El Elyon, God Most High (Vayikra/Leviticus 19:15-18). Let there be no more pandering to orthodox or any other unjust spiritualism in the military, in the name of Yahovah El Elyon. Amen.
The injustice done by authorities is not hidden to God. May Israel and her allies walk in higher standards of righteousness before they condemn themselves further, in the name of Mashiach Yeshua. Amen.
Addendum 4/30/2024 - I noted a new article where the United States stated five IDF units were investigated for ethical violations[2.6]. Most of them were given "remediation" or some kind of training and guidance to correct them. That was not the biggest issue, though. The biggest problems were in the reader comments, which largely denied any wrong and accused the United States of hypocrisy for pointing out military ethical violations. It is true that the U.S. military has committed many ethical violations throughout history, but that does not mean Israel is free to do as she pleases, so I made the following comment to the article "US says 5 IDF units violated human rights: 4 have remediated, one being reviewed":
Minister Ty Alexander: Depending on the violations, "remediation" may not be sufficient. Look at what "remediation" has done with bad police officers that needed far worse penalties, removal from service, and even prison time. Does George Floyd come to mind?
The U.S. might not be perfect in her military's history, but at least today, they actively investigate and prosecute soldiers who commit crimes.
Judge fairly. Do not favor the poor or show preference to the rich. Judge your neighbor fairly (Vayikra/Leviticus 19:15); Judge the people with righteous judgment (Devarim/Deuteronomy 16:18). It is not good to show partiality to the guilty, nor to deprive the righteous in judgment (Mishlei/Proverbs 18:5).
So do not turn away your eyes when your own does serious wrong, you and the people will come to greater harm for it.
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