The Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, sparks a new crisis within the occupation entity by threatening mass travel outside of Israel if they are forced to serve in the Israeli army. Violent reactions to his statement indicate the outbreak of a new crisis to add to the crises of the occupation.



The statement of the chief rabbi of the Sephardim in the occupation entity, Yitzhak Yosef, regarding the threat to “travel abroad if they are forced to conscript,” which was reported by the “Ynet” website, affiliated with the Israeli newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth,” this Saturday evening, sparked a great uproar within Entity.

Youssef threatened a mass departure from “Israel,” as he said against the background of discussing the conscription law: “The Levi tribe is exempt from the army, and they will not be taken under any circumstances. If they force us to go to the army, we will buy tickets and all travel abroad.”

Youssef criticized those he described as “secular Israelis,” considering that they are the ones who “do not understand that without the Torah there will be no success for the army,” and he considered their talk about equality in the burden “empty talk and lies.”

Youssef said: “They (referring to the secularists) are the ones evading a three-thousand-year-old Jewish obligation, not us, and it is not just that we contribute to shouldering the burden, but rather we are the only ones who contribute.”

It is noteworthy that the father of the current Chief Rabbi is the leader of the Shas party, Ovadia Yosef, who had made a similar threat in 2013, when he said that “a severe danger is hovering over us, it is the recruitment of religious schools,” adding: “We are in great sadness and danger.” "Save your children, protect your children's children who will work with the Torah. Whatever it is, it will be out of our hands. We will have to leave Israel safely and travel abroad."

The seriousness of Youssef's latest statement comes in its timing, which coincides with the ongoing battles that the occupation has been waging for more than five months on two fronts, in the Gaza Strip and in northern occupied Palestine, in which it suffers severe losses on a daily basis, with clear tremors on its internal front, and sharp disagreements between its leaders. politicians, and a large number of its soldiers were exposed to psychological crises, according to what was reported by the Israeli media.

Youssef's statement comes as an expression of a state of anger prevailing among ultra-Orthodox Jews as pressure mounts to cancel the policy of comprehensive exemption for religious school students from military service.

Youssef's statements caused objectionable reactions, as the head of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, said: “Rabbi Youssef's words are a disgrace and an insult to the soldiers of the Israeli army who risk their lives in order to protect the state. The rabbi is a state employee, he receives a salary from the state, he cannot threaten the state.” ", adding: "He will not receive a single penny from the State of Israel."

In turn, the head of the "Israel Our Home" party, Avigdor Lieberman, wrote on his account on the "X" website: "Without duties, there are no rights. It is a shame that Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and the extremist Orthodox businessmen continue to harm Israel's security."

The “Mothers on the Front” movement considered that there is no contradiction between learning the Torah and joining the “army,” citing the phrase taken from the Torah, “Your brothers go to war and you are sitting here?”, concluding that “no one fears conscription except because of the weakness of his faith.”

The Israeli “Brothers in Arms” organization said: “After October 7, there is no place for us and them in Israel, and what was was will never be. 75 years of inequality are over. This Thursday we will all participate in a march for equality in bearing burdens, because we "We will no longer allow the distinction between blood and blood."

Confrontations were renewed last Sunday between members of the Israeli occupation police and Haredi demonstrators, during their protest against the conscription law in the Israeli occupation army.

Israeli Channel 12 reported that hundreds of Haredim were demonstrating and blocking the highway in occupied Jerusalem. The Haredi demonstrators chanted, “We die, we do not enlist,” and the Israeli media confirmed that the protest area witnessed great tension between the Israeli police forces and the demonstrators.

The protests come against the backdrop of the legal advisor to the Israeli government informing the Supreme Court of Occupation that, as of April 1, 2024, there will be no legal basis to avoid recruiting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli “army.”

The issue of Haredi participation in the army is one of the most sensitive and tense topics in Israel, as secularists oppose religious Jews not being recruited and gaining more advantages than others.

It is noteworthy that the ultra-Orthodox Jews have long enjoyed exemptions from military service, as they consider integration with the secular world a “threat to their religious identity and the continuity of their society.”

Al-Mayadeen