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European Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol. 12, No. 1

Publication Date: February 25, 2024

DOI:10.14738/aivp.121.16382

Gurevitz, M. (2024). Historical Irony: The Israeli State is Mostly Endangered by its Religious Sector. European Journal of Applied

Sciences, Vol - 12(1). 268-269.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Historical Irony: The Israeli State is Mostly Endangered by its

Religious Sector

Michael Gurevitz

Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Ecology

George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University

Ramat Aviv 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel

The Jewish people (Israelites) suffered thousands of years from invasions and destructions of

their Canaan homeland (e.g., Assyria in 721 BC; Babylon in 597 BC; Rome in 63 BC), pogroms

during exile (e.g., mostly in the 19th century in Eastern Europe, and even nowadays by the

Palestinian terror organization Hamas), and attempts of extermination (e.g., holocaust during

World War II; attack by the Arabic states upon the re-establishment of Israel in 1948), but

miraculously they survived against all odds. However, following the reunion of the Jewish tribes

in the independent Israeli state (1948), its blooming for 75 years and secured existence are

ironically being jeopardized to our dismay by its own religious sector. This unbelievable

situation follows a political turn-over, in which the Likud party headed by Benjamin Netanyahu

(now under trial for several liabilities on fraud and breach of trust) established a coalition with

two religious parties (‘Yahadut Hatorah’ and ‘Shas’) as well as two minor parties composed of

Judaea and Samaria religious settlers (‘Otzma Yehudit’ and ‘Tkuma’) to win the 2022 elections.

As soon as the new government was constituted (64 mandates out of 120), Netanyahu,

nominated Yariv Levin, a Likud party member, attorney by profession and obsessive criticizer

of the Israeli Supreme Court (due most likely to failure and feelings of humiliation in his early

career), as the Minister of Justice (ref. 1). With a strong motivation to enact radical changes in

the legal system, mainly minimization of the authority of the Supreme Court to control

governmental decisions, Levin has begun a ruthless parliamentary ‘Legislative Reform’

(actually a ‘Legal Revolution’) that in the absence of an Israeli constitution, enables application

of any decision taken by the government, as well as paves the way to governmental corruption

and cancelation of Netanyahu’s trial. To satisfy his coalition members Netanyahu was forced

(by written contracts) to nominate as ministers and deputies numerous inexperienced Knesset

(Israeli parliament) members including representatives of the religious and extremist parties.

In the rising chaos and total dependence of Netanyahu on his coalition, these new

parliamentary members began using their newly acquired power to improve their political

impact and personal wealth by nominating loyal personnel at all governmental and public

offices, ignoring all ethical restrictions and regulations. Furthermore, the leaders of the

religious parties felt strong enough (ref. 2) to threaten to dissolve the coalition if their demands

were not met and implemented by legislation. These demands included (a) an immense

financial support of the religious sector, especially all those who do not work and only study

Torah, while ignoring educational requirements for future employment (Yeshiva students); (b)

equalizing the rights (financial aid) of these Yeshiva students (actually ‘shirkers’), to those who

serve three years in the army at 18-21 of age, raising a ridiculous claim that studying Torah is

equally important for the security of Israel; (c) exemption by legislation of tens of thousands of

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Gurevitz, M. (2024). Historical Irony: The Israeli State is Mostly Endangered by its Religious Sector. European Journal of Applied Sciences, Vol - 12(1).

268-269.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.121.16382

Yeshiva students from army service or any other kind of contribution to the community*. Thus

far, not all of these demands have passed by legislation, due to enormous demonstrations of

hundreds of thousands of citizens, protesting vehemently against the anti-democratic ‘Legal

Revolution’ and increased religious control over most aspects of life (e.g., education in schools

and academia; women oppression, food prices and Kosher issues; prohibited public

transportation on Saturdays; religious rules regarding marriage and divorce; control over the

Judaea and Samaria territories; financial Israeli future in regard to productivity and

international credit lines; Israel’s foreign relations). Astoundingly, despite the increasing

demolition of Israel’s economy, security, and social infrastructure, the religious leaders are

apathic to the deteriorating reality and do not have a reasonable future perspective or

understanding of the world globalization processes, as well as Israel’s dependence on

supporting international main powers. By striving towards immediate implementation of their

demands, they are ready to destroy the social relations and balance between the various sectors

of the Israeli population, which weakens Israel largely. Indeed, the increasing weakness of

Israel prompted Hamas (of the Gaza strip), Hezbollah (in Lebanon) and even the Houtis of

Yaman (all supported by Iran) to attack Israel with the assumption that the Israeli retaliation

abilities have debilitated. Since within a decade or two the religious sector would compose a

third of the Israeli population (due to a higher birth rate), the probability of their unification to

form the strongest party that leads the coalition in the next elections is quite high. Such a

situation would further diminish the economy and security of Israel up to a risky stage of

inability to cope militarily with the surrounding enemies as well as maintain decent economic

capabilities. Notably, defeat of Israel due to internal clashes (actually a civil war) already

occurred in the past. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans two thousand years ago

resulted from similar internal feuds, which led extremists to burn the food reservoirs, an act

that expedited the final capitulation.

References

1. Gurevitz, M. (2023) The ultimate revenge of Benjamin Netanyahu. European journal of Applied Sciences,

11(5), 369.

2. Gurevitz, M. (2022) Religion - a sophisticated strategy to gain control over the masses. Annals of Depression

Anxiety, 9(1), 1115.