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Mar 28, 2023
the greatest insult of all
The Kohelet Forum is a right wing think tank that was basically behind the judicial reform. For ten years or so, from what I have read, they have been working the plan for judicial reform. Yariv Levin and Simcha Rothman have based their reform on the recommendations of Kohelet.
MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ) has no accused them of being leftists because he just discovered that Moshe Koppel, the head of Kohelet, holds some beliefs that do not line up with the beliefs of the Haredi sector. Yated Neeman is reporting (so no link available, only hard copy) that some recordings from an event in NY in which Koppel spoke about different issues was made public (or it got to the hands of Gafni and some others), and Koppel seems to believe the Haredi community should not be given such handouts as they currently get, which encourage the men to not work, such as daycare subsidies, and some other subsidies. Additionally, Koppel had spoken out about some aspects of the judicial reform saying the government took it too far in a bad way such as the override clause with a simple majority (and he also pointed to this being a demand of the Haredi politicians)...
Gafni was enraged by this saying Koppel, and Kohelet, clearly doesnt understand the value of Torah learning, and they are not part of the "Right Bloc" but part of the "Left bloc". He said this person who is supposedly Right but is really Left doesnt understand the system, and I am ashamed he is our partner.
Kohelet is not part of any bloc - they are not a political party but a think tank. You dont have to agree with everything they suggest and/or say, but they analyze systems from their worldview and put together plans. You might like some and not others.
And let's not forget, the Haredi political parties are all basically left wing parties in everything except family values. On economic issues they are left wing, and in security and Land of Israel issues they are also closer to the Left than the Right (for example see how they oppose most of Ben Gvir and Smotritch's plans such as Har Habayit, death penalty for terrorists, settling land in Judea and Samaria, etc.). The Haredi people are fairly Right wing when it comes to security and giving away land, but Rav Shach and Rav Ovadia supported "land for peace" to save lives so Haredi leadership is not nearly as right wing as many of the people.
Instead of relating to the arguments and even disagreeing the new method, formulated by Netanyahu in the last few elections, is to just dismiss others by saying "so and so is Left"
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Labels:
Kohelet Forum,
left-wing,
Moshe Gafni
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The Chareidi parties aren't left or right - they're prostitutes whose thinking is as black and white as their outfits. Remember the old line from Doctor Who - if you are not a Dalek, then you are an enemy of the Daleks? Well if you're not Chareidi or prepared to kowtow to their every demand, then you are an enemy of the Chareidim
ReplyDelete"MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ) has no accused them of being leftists "
ReplyDeleteGafni has admitted to being a leftist:
"Gafni... is no right-wing enthusiast. “I am not on the right,” he stated simply at a recent conference...At a 2017 conference hosted by the Israeli (left-wing) Haaretz newspaper, Gafni declared that “on policy issues I stand closer to the Left’s position,” and even declared that “the Palestinians were here before us and we displaced them.” Notwithstanding his preference for the liberal position on the Palestinian issue, Gafni explained that his party cannot participate in leftist governments “because you sit with the Reform.”" (from Tzarich Iyun)
"Gafni was enraged by this saying Koppel, and Kohelet, clearly doesnt understand the value of Torah learning"
Unlike Gafni, Koppel actually has spent much of his academic career working with Torah texts. Koppel has more in common with R' Chaim Kanievsky than Gafni.
But as the rest of your post indicates, there has been for a long time a disconnect between Charedi politicians in the Knesset and the people who vote for them. The latter are generally right wing, and the former left wing. That's why in the aftermath of 2005 Gaza evacuation, you would hear clueless Charedim bash the Zionist State for expelling Jews from their homes.