by Daas Yochid
It’s high time we acknowledged the real underlying cause behind these riots and stopped falling for the excuses that keep changing. Yesterday it was two female soldiers who dared to enter the nominal no-go zone, a few weeks ago it was autopsies on two babies killed by societal neglect, the week before it was an arrested draft-avoider, and the week before that, it was a phone shop selling unfiltered smartphones in Ramah Dalet.
Who knows what will inspire next week’s hooliganism?
Regardless of the excuse, the reason stays the same, and it is not what most people seem to say out loud.
Secular Israeli media talks about religious extremism, which fundamentally misunderstands the point.
The “moderate” chareidim who feign outrage or try to distance themselves by saying it’s just an extreme sect that takes things too far.
Take what too far? Religion?
If you truly believe in the hashkafah you claim to, then are they wrong?
Or is it just the tactics you object to, but the overall sentiment you agree with? Like the Mishpacha and YWN, and VINnews, who carefully try to tread the line between clear condemnation and tacit support.
Rabbi Hoffman means well here: The Horrifying Chillul Hashem in Bnei Brak
But, by criticizing the IDF, legitimising “peaceful, dignified protest” and implying that violence is the result of righteous indignation gone out of hand, and the only real issue is that it causes a Chillul Hashem, he also shows that he does not understand the real cause.
