I don't know if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef have their dressy robes and turbans made by the same tailor and milliner, and whether the gold decorations woven into their clothes symbolize some sort of rank in their divine status or are just foppishness. Some say it's both. They have adopted the Ottoman tradition of clerics who vied in their day with the dandyish sultans. In any case, both Khamenei and Yosef have influence on questions of war and peace. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn't going to push that button without authorization from Khamanei, just as our prime minister and defense minister make pilgrimages to Our Master and Teacher on the issue of the Iranian threat.
The advice Khamenei gives is within the realm of the secret. Some believe that he will not lightly approve what we fear. As for Rabbi Ovadia, his solution has been cited as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, will thwart them: "Their sword shall enter into their own heart and their bows shall be broken" (Psalms 37:15 ). Interior Minister Eli Yishai, one of the eight decisive votes in the cabinet that will determine whether or not to attack, has declared: "We have no one upon whom to rely except for our Father in Heaven." Information about what our father in heaven thinks is not really in our hands.
About two weeks ago 19 retired Israel Defense Forces generals published a letter to the defense minister and the chief of staff demanding a stop to the continuing harm to the military service of women in the IDF.
The generals warned of damage to women's motivation to serve and to the basic values of Israeli society. They noted that they cherish the contribution of religious IDF soldiers and respect their rights but these must be ensured without imposing a religious way of life on the rest of those serving in the military.
Maj. Gen. (ret. ) Mendi Meron has said that everyone who has commanded soldiers from hesder yeshivas - an arrangement whereby conscripts split their time between religious studies and active service - knows there are no words to describe their dedication, but that has nothing to do with the exclusion of women. Nonreligious people also have rights in the army. Exclusion of women in the IDF is just the tip of the iceberg. At the base is the question: Who gives the orders in the army - the commanders or the Holy One, Blessed Be He?
Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy observed, "The ultra-Orthodox are scarier than the Iranian bomb." It goes without saying that before you could say Jack Robinson he had to apologize. It is hard to believe we are getting close to a situation in which nonreligious people don't even have the right to be caustic.
With the start of the Knesset session, a series of proposed laws are leading the country into dangerous realms. Add to this the apartheid developing between men and women in Jerusalem and Kadima MK Avi Dichter's proposal to declare Israel a Jewish state and not count its Arab inhabitants. This statement won him compliments from one MK, who said that at long last we see the Likud is in control.
The prime minister and several of his extremist colleagues have come back from their summer vacation brimming with ideas for laws about holding hearings for candidates for the Supreme Court and restrictions on foreign funding of the (mainly leftist ) non-profit organizations.
It is odd to hear a demand like that from the right. During my time as diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz in Washington I was amazed at the skills demonstrated by the heads of the Israeli right in raising funds from strange and sundry non-profit organizations. The law for drying up funds will anger Europe and the liberal donors in the United States. There is fear that donations to hospitals and universities will cease. The attorney general has made it unambiguously clear that these proposals are unconstitutional and damaging to the political discourse, freedom of expression and the freedom of association.
On the other side, Minister without Portfolio Yossi Peled says Israel must not agree to foreign donations to organizations like Breaking the Silence, for example, which persecutes IDF soldiers. Following this argument, an American citizen could wonder whether it is necessary to continue providing financial aid to a country that is not lifting a finger for peace.
Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi ) Netanyahu is acting to neutralize all the mechanisms that aren't under his government's thumb, like the Supreme Court, the media and the non-governmental organizations. In the meantime, he has retreated slightly in the face of the public's reaction. However, recent events add to the sense that Iran's spirit is taking control of us, through rightist legislation, creeping ultra-Orthodox extremism and disrespect for minority rights. Iran is already here.
Origin
Source: Ha'aretz
The advice Khamenei gives is within the realm of the secret. Some believe that he will not lightly approve what we fear. As for Rabbi Ovadia, his solution has been cited as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, will thwart them: "Their sword shall enter into their own heart and their bows shall be broken" (Psalms 37:15 ). Interior Minister Eli Yishai, one of the eight decisive votes in the cabinet that will determine whether or not to attack, has declared: "We have no one upon whom to rely except for our Father in Heaven." Information about what our father in heaven thinks is not really in our hands.
About two weeks ago 19 retired Israel Defense Forces generals published a letter to the defense minister and the chief of staff demanding a stop to the continuing harm to the military service of women in the IDF.
The generals warned of damage to women's motivation to serve and to the basic values of Israeli society. They noted that they cherish the contribution of religious IDF soldiers and respect their rights but these must be ensured without imposing a religious way of life on the rest of those serving in the military.
Maj. Gen. (ret. ) Mendi Meron has said that everyone who has commanded soldiers from hesder yeshivas - an arrangement whereby conscripts split their time between religious studies and active service - knows there are no words to describe their dedication, but that has nothing to do with the exclusion of women. Nonreligious people also have rights in the army. Exclusion of women in the IDF is just the tip of the iceberg. At the base is the question: Who gives the orders in the army - the commanders or the Holy One, Blessed Be He?
Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy observed, "The ultra-Orthodox are scarier than the Iranian bomb." It goes without saying that before you could say Jack Robinson he had to apologize. It is hard to believe we are getting close to a situation in which nonreligious people don't even have the right to be caustic.
With the start of the Knesset session, a series of proposed laws are leading the country into dangerous realms. Add to this the apartheid developing between men and women in Jerusalem and Kadima MK Avi Dichter's proposal to declare Israel a Jewish state and not count its Arab inhabitants. This statement won him compliments from one MK, who said that at long last we see the Likud is in control.
The prime minister and several of his extremist colleagues have come back from their summer vacation brimming with ideas for laws about holding hearings for candidates for the Supreme Court and restrictions on foreign funding of the (mainly leftist ) non-profit organizations.
It is odd to hear a demand like that from the right. During my time as diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz in Washington I was amazed at the skills demonstrated by the heads of the Israeli right in raising funds from strange and sundry non-profit organizations. The law for drying up funds will anger Europe and the liberal donors in the United States. There is fear that donations to hospitals and universities will cease. The attorney general has made it unambiguously clear that these proposals are unconstitutional and damaging to the political discourse, freedom of expression and the freedom of association.
On the other side, Minister without Portfolio Yossi Peled says Israel must not agree to foreign donations to organizations like Breaking the Silence, for example, which persecutes IDF soldiers. Following this argument, an American citizen could wonder whether it is necessary to continue providing financial aid to a country that is not lifting a finger for peace.
Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi ) Netanyahu is acting to neutralize all the mechanisms that aren't under his government's thumb, like the Supreme Court, the media and the non-governmental organizations. In the meantime, he has retreated slightly in the face of the public's reaction. However, recent events add to the sense that Iran's spirit is taking control of us, through rightist legislation, creeping ultra-Orthodox extremism and disrespect for minority rights. Iran is already here.
Origin
Source: Ha'aretz
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