Channel 12 political pundit Amit Segal noted on Wednesday that he does not believe that the religious Zionists are receiving their due credit in the war, considering the fact that a significant percentage of the soldiers who have fallen in the war come from that sector.
"I must say something that I've been refraining from saying," said Segal, "When heroes from the Druze community fell, we honored their heroism. In addition, a discussion arose about whether that common fate should cause us to rethink the Nationality Law."
Segal said that for years there has been a "crusade of defamation and division against the religious Zionists, for instance, against the Eli pre-military academy. 'It's poison; it must be closed down,' they said; 14 of the fallen soldiers are alumni. 45% of the fallen soldiers are from the religious Zionist sector, and even more, if you count what is called the 'clear kippot' - the ones who are no longer religious [but were raised on religious Zionist values]."
"And no one even mentions it. No one says 'Maybe what we thought about those 'crazy' people on the hills in Judea and Samaria, with side curls, tzitzit, and an Uzi submachine gun, maybe we should stop and think again.' Forget it, you don't even have to think again, you don't even have to stop evacuating outposts; just say that sentence."
Those who identify with the religious Zionist sector make up about 20% of Israel's population according to a 2019 poll.
3 comments:
Acc. to most surveys RZ make up considerably less than that
It's an old rivalry.
From the earliest days of the State, the Secular Zionists from the kibbutzim were the backbone of the army, something they were proud of. They were the leaders and the heroes, setting an example for the country with their strength and sacrifice.
And then along came the Religious Zionist community, one equally committed to defending Israel and equally motivated to succeed in the army. The Secular Zionists never accepted them and saw them as rivals, not brothers-in-arms.
In addition, this war has shown that efforts by the Secular Left to marginalize and even vilify the Religious Zionist community ever since Oslo has been a HUGE mistake and cost the country terribly. They certainly don't want to deal with the biggest "I told you so!" in Israel's history.
So naturally now there will be an effort by the Secular Left to downplay RZ sacrifices because it doesn't fit the narrative.
Just last year there was the repeated noise that RZ are a bigger enemy than charedim
They were the early backbone-contra propaganda because..
a.They ardently refused to allow any other crowd [excepting some Weizmann liberalim] climb up the ranks
b.they could presume then the arc was bending towards their purposes.
Had they been only able to fast-forward the track they would have been ducking out already then(some were indeed yored).Which further amplifies their negation of RZ.
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