The secular population in Jerusalem lives off the Haredim, not the other way around. The big money comes form rich people abroad. The young neighborhoods and the secular neighborhoods are exempt from property value increase taxes because they need to be strengthened. Where do the monies come from? from the dossim, the religious people, in America, my uncles, that come from America and raise the value of the property.
For the good of the general public, we need to make separate cities. If the general population does not want to feel conquered, and rightly so, in places like Kiryat Yovel, Bet Shemesh, Gilo, and certainly between Haredi and Secular, separate cities is the right way to go. The Haredi interest has leanings in both directions.
If one is placed opposite the other: first of all, torah learning, as that has sustained the Jewish nation for 2000 years. The army has sustained us for 74 years. I would put 2000 opposite 74 and that would be the weight. I give more weight to the future of the Jewish nation via Torah learning
-- former MK (and likely soon to be future MK) Yitzchak Pindrus (UTJ), at a conference discussing the Haredi population and a variety of issues affecting them
Pindrus said a lot there. The debate over mixing cities with varying populations versus building separate cities for secular and Haredi has been raging for a long time. Pindrus's position is not agreed to by everyone even in the Haredi leadership, but it would likely lower tensions in many places.
I am surprised he said the army has sustained us for 74 years, and not that the Torah learning has given the army the power and success to do so, negating the army's effect on its own.
There is big money, and a lot of it, coming from abroad to Jerusalem and other areas, but I am not convinced it is as significant as he says it is, that it is the bulk of the money supporting the city. He would have to prove that.
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There are lies, damned lies and then there are statistics. I think it was Yonasan Rosenblum who once twisted statistics to "prove" that in fact Chareidim don't live off the public teat but are actually net contributors to it! These guys have to invent these delusions because the alternative is to admit they're sucking secular money out of the state and providing very little in return.
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