Netanyahu’s Remark That ‘G-d Didn’t Always Protect Us’ Incenses Charedi Coalition Partners

 

DIN: I don't understand what the big deal is. Didn't the late Satmar Rebbi z'l say something similar during the 6 day war? 

In his "al hagilah" the rebbe wrote that Hashem had nothing to do with the victory of the 6 day war, he attributed the success of the war to the great IDF and of course the "samach mem." the "devil." 

Interesting that when the IDF then took credit for the victory, the rebbe yelled "oy vey, they are saying "koichi ve'etzem yadi" but he himself agreed that they victory was because of the strength of the IDF which is basically saying the same thing, he never saw the irony in his own reasoning!

During a cabinet meeting on Sunday regarding the pilgrimage to the Uman for Rosh Hashana, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized the danger of traveling to the wartorn country and called on the pilgrims to be responsible.

“Israeli citizens who are traveling to Ukraine need to bear personal responsibility at this time,” Netanyahu stated and then added the following: “G-d did not always protect us, not on European land and not on Ukrainian land.” Netanyahu’s controversial statement apparently referred to the question that has been asked over the last 80 years: “Where was G-d during the Holocaust.”

Netanyahu’s remark however was seen as blasphemy by charedi leaders. The editor-in-chief of the haredi news site B’Chadrei Charedim, Moshe Weisberg, wondered if the charedi MKs would respond to the remark in silence. “Will the charedi MKs swallow Netanyahu’s contemptuous remarks as well?” he wondered.

Haredi journalist Michael Shemesh also responded: “It’s hard to believe that the charedi ministers will let this statement pass silently.”

The Shas party was the first to react, stating that “G-d always protected the people of Israel in all the exiles and all the persecution, and that’s why the nation of Israel is the only one that miraculously survived the for thousands of years, while other many and stronger nations were annihilated,” the party stated.

The party added: “Of course, the condition for divine providence is faith and keeping the Torah and mitzvot as the Jewish people did since they became a nation.”

MK Israel Eichler (UTJ) responded to Prime Minister Netanyahu, calling the statement “words of ignorance” and adding, “For over 100 years, the G-d of Israel has been saving Israel from the might, the evil culture, and the assimilation of the secular regime.” He added that “The Zionists and partisans didn’t prevent the Holocaust in Europe. The Germans were miraculously stopped on the way to conquering the land of Israel but not due to the Zionists, who acted basely towards the Diaspora Jews. Many of the Judenrats collaborated with the Nazis, some sold their Jews to save themselves. The Zionist leadership refused to assist and harmed the “Rescue programs”, as is apparent from Min HaMetzar of Rabbi Weissmandel and other historians including Shabtai Bet Tzvi, Shmuel Tamir, Ben Hecht and others. Some of the Zionists even called the Jews in the ghettos “economic and moral dust.”

Minister of Education Yoav Kisch responded to Eichler’s comment: “I call on MK Eichler to retract the anti-Zionist destructive comment that he wrote. As the grandson of Brigadier Kisch, who fought the Nazis, as a Zionist, as a Jew, and as a soldier in the Israeli Defense Force who fought our enemies, I am ashamed of the things you wrote.”