1. We always abstain from voting in the electoral committee, because we do not believe that political representatives can decide such things - all votes there are really political, and one day, we are concerned, it will turn against us such as over the issue of female representatives not on the party list
-- Advocate Avraham Yustman, Agudath Israel member on electoral committee, explaining why they abstained in the vote regarding voiding candidacy of some extremists in the upcoming elections
2. The face of this irresponsible person has been revealed, and I am warning you, if these elections will remain undecided and [Gantz] passes the minimum threshold, he very well could still become Prime Minister. That would be a tragedy for Haredi Judaism and for the Nation of Israel, as he is not even worthy of being a Member of Knesset
-- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ).
Wow
3. There are many Sefardi girls that learn in our seminaries. A sefardi family whose children learn by us and we take care of their budgets and needs, you don't think they should vote for UTJ? Why do they come to learn by us? There are hashkafic differences between Shas and UTJ. The proof is, why do they want to send their children to our institutions, why do avreichim want to learn by us. The reasons are very clear, and I won't expand on it.
-- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ)
maybe it isnt due to hashkafic differences but because of [perceived differences in] style or quality of Torah teaching and learning, and/or due to perception of level of prestige of an institution, or for other reasons. And maybe some of it is hashkafic for some people. How sad though that the institutions of Torah are so political and not just torah and education. (though I am not arguing his point about who they should vote for - he has a right to try to get them to vote for UTJ)
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Gafni is making the argument "vote for the people who get you money" argument, which is disgusting but widespread. Shas makes it too.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it disgusting? That is the way Israeli politics works. When you set up a system that is highly dependent on the government handing out the cash, then that will be a major appeal to the voters.
DeleteThen the system is disgusting.
Delete