Yated Ne’eman called on readers to ‘stay away’ from pro-overhaul rally

 

I believe that Yeshivisha/Litvaks made a huge mistake with their advice to their readers not to attend the rally. The likelihood of their readers to have showed up at the rally was zero anyway, so what was the point?  

This article just exposed the deep divide between the Dati-Leumis' and the Yeshivishe  communities. The Dati Leumi party which is the Otzma Yehudit party is getting stronger and stronger usurping votes from the Litvishe Degel Hatorah and the Aguda Parties, witness  the last election. As Otzma gets stronger they will begin to totally ignore them and only consider what is good for "dati leumi. The Yated was the newspaper that supported the sexual pervert, the late Chaim Walder till the very end. 

A popular Haredi newspaper called on its readers not to attend a mass rally on Thursday night in support of the government’s contentious bid to dramatically weaken the judiciary.

Yated Ne’eman, which is affiliated with the non-Hasidic Degel Hatorah faction in United Torah Judaism — a key ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — ran a story about the pro-overhaul demonstration, noting its location and timing.

However, the accompanying article called on community members not to attend.

“We are clearly with the right at the behest of our rabbis, but we do not belong to, and do not embark on, this joint campaign,” the article read.

“We are in favor of legal reform and against the dictatorial takeover of peoples’ lives by liberal terrorism. But members of the Haredi community should stay away,” it added. “Those who go to right-wing demonstrations are not part of our audience, period. Those who go to right-wing demonstrations are not one of us.”

While Degel Hatorah has long been aligned with the political right, its rabbinic leaders are loath to identify with the state and its institutions. They also deeply oppose non-gender-segregated events.

Supporters of the coalition and proponents of the government’s contentious plan to shackle the judiciary are gearing up for a mass rally in favor of the overhaul on Thursday night in Jerusalem, which they hope will exceed in size the numerous massive anti-overhaul protests staged over the last four months.

While it has long been clear that the ultra-Orthodox community was unlikely to attend the event en masse, organizers still hope that some will participate.

Nationalist religious and settler activist groups and individuals are at the vanguard of the campaign, and some of the most senior members of the cabinet will speak at the event, including judicial overhaul architect Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party, and Energy and Infrastructure Minister Israel Katz, although Netanyahu is not expected to participate.

The rally organizers are pitching the mass demonstration as a fightback by those who voted for the current government against the huge protest movement opposing the highly controversial legislation.

The mass anti-overhaul demonstrations have included growing refusal to serve by IDF reservists, labor strike actions and civil unrest, forcing Netanyahu to freeze the legislation until the next Knesset session, which begins next week, to allow for negotiations with the opposition on a potential compromise.

If implemented in full, the legislation would give governing coalitions almost complete control over judicial appointments, and drastically reduce the High Court of Justice’s ability to strike down legislation.

Opponents say the radical legislation would strip away almost all checks and balances from Israel’s system of government, eroding and potentially eliminating its democratic character and leaving minorities unprotected. Proponents say the changes are needed to rein in what they see as an activist court.

The pro-overhaul movement is being led by the new Tekuma 23 organization, established by Likud MK Avichay Buaron, a religious resident of the Amichai settlement in the West Bank, along with Beraleh Krombie, a settlement activist, strategic communications adviser and Chabad Hasid. The group were among the key organizers of a mass right-wing rally on March 27 that drew large numbers from the national religious and settler communities, just hours before Netanyahu announced he was freezing the legislation.