It is worth recalling that ethnocracy is a form of government where representatives of a particular ethnic group, in the Israeli case the fanatic extremist religious, hold a number of government posts disproportionately large to the percentage of the total Israeli population, which is mainly secular. Hence the religious fanatics ideologies represent and use them to advance the position of their particular narrow-minded policies to the detriment of others, mainly Israeli secular Jews and other minority groups, including Israeli Arabs and others.

Arieli reminded the Israelis what Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook had stated,: "This land is ours, there are no Arab lands here ... within its entire biblical borders it belongs to Israeli rule ... this is the decision of divine politics, which no earthly politics can overcome."

He went on to state, “During deliberations on a petition to the High Court of Justice against the establishment of Elon Moreh (settlement) in 1979, Menachem Felix, one of the leaders of Gush Emunim, argued that the significance of the settlement enterprise is ‘And ye shall drive out the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein.’ At the time people's eyes had not been opened to realize that this expression hid inside it a different worldview from the secular Zionism of Chaim Weizmann and Ze'ev Jabotinsky. From the worldview expressed by Felix it emerged, inter alia, that the law for Jews in the Land of Israel is different from the law for the Arabs.

That year, [Israeli Prime Minister] Yitzhak Rabin said: ‘In Gush Emunim I saw a most terrible phenomenon, a cancer in the body of Israeli democracy.’ His words fell on deaf ears.

A few years after the disengagement [from Gaza] , in 2008, one of the heads of the faction, Hanan Porat, said that Zionism is nothing but ‘the establishment of a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, restoring the divine spirit to Zion, having a kingdom of the house of David, and building the Temple.’ “

Arieli concluded, “ It is worthwhile to remind ourselves of the philosophy of Theodor Herzl, who had something to say also on this. In his book Der Judenstaat, Herzl wrote: ‘Will we have a theocracy? No!... We will not allow the theocratic tendencies of our religious leadership to raise their head. We will know how to keep them in the synagogues ... they will be very well-respected ... but they should not interfere in matters of state ... lest they bring upon themselves difficulties from within and from without.’ "

In the same month, Merav Michaeli echoed the Arielie sentiments, “The civil state of Israel, through its secular leaders and politicians, has, ever since the day it was founded, willingly ceded its sovereign authority over numerous matters to the religious establishment. Israel enacted laws granting the exclusive authority to rule on issues of marriage and divorce, conversion and religious education to the religious establishment. The state thus gave up its right to decide who can convert to Judaism and which rabbis can perform conversions, its right to enable a couple to marry or end a marriage, and in effect, its right to have control over its population registry, as well as its right to determine the curriculum its young people will study…. From the moment the state established the principle that there are areas of life of which it has washed its hands, and over which it has transferred sovereignty to the rabbis, it was only natural that the latter would want to expand their control in accordance with their own principles. …..

Indeed, the rabbis have achieved a great deal in their negotiations: a sweeping exemption from service in the Israel Defense Forces, state funding of Torah study, and what amounts to exclusive control over Jewish burials and kashrut (kosher) certification. The law that separated the various school systems did not merely deprive the state of its ability to determine the curriculum in religious schools, but also effectively laid the groundwork for the separation that exists today - whether by gender, as on the buses, or by ethnic origin, as in the schools in the settlement of Immanuel. Moreover, the mere authorization of religious sovereignty over civil matters automatically deprives both women and those defined as gentiles - citizens and enemies alike - of their basic rights.”

Also Uri Avnery, former Israeli legislator and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement , decried the encroaching theocracy in his country.

He pointed out, “The rabbi of Safed, a government employee, has decreed that it is strictly forbidden to let apartments to Arabs — including the Arab students at the local medical school. Twenty other town rabbis — whose salaries are paid by the taxpayers, mostly secular, including Arab citizens — have publicly supported this edict….The same goes for another group of rabbis, who prohibited employing Goyim……………
Unlike modern Christianity, the Jewish religion is not just a matter between man and God, but also a matter between man and man. Religious law encompasses all aspects of public and private life.
The Jewish Halakha, like the Islamic Sharia, regulates every single aspect of life. Whenever Jewish law clashes with Israeli law, which one should prevail? The one enacted by the democratically elected Knesset, which can be changed at any moment if the people want it, or the one handed down by God on Mount Sinai for all time?
Religious fanatics in Israel insist that religious law stands above the secular law, and that the state courts have no jurisdiction over the clerics in matters that concern religion. When the Supreme Court ruled otherwise, the most respected Orthodox rabbi easily mobilized 100,000 protesters in Jerusalem. For years now, religious cabinet ministers, law professors and politicians, as well as their political supporters, have been busy chipping away at the integrity, independence and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
This is the crux of the matter. “

Senator,
The extreme religious fanaticism that dominate Israeli society led to Yoram Kaniuk, who was born in Tel Aviv prior to the establishment of the Jewish State, and was injured when fighting in the 1948 1948 took an unorthodox decision. He resorted to a drastic measure, as a secular Jew that could no longer tolerate the Orthodox intimidation and religious diktats. He is considered one of Israel's most significant authors and thus does not need a rabbinical stamp of approval to be recognized as an Israeli, and for his nationality to be recognized as Jewish

For this reason the Tel Aviv District Court in September 2011 upheld a request from him to be registered as an “atheist.” However, under the "Nationality” clause at the Population Registry, and in his ID document, too, he remains a Jew. The secular Jew was determined to fight “for a separation between religion and state and working toward achieving a distinction between readily confused concepts - Judaism, Israelism, Hebraism; nationality, nation, religion,“ according to the Israeli media.

The Israeli daily Ha’aretz’s admonished, “ Religiously observant individuals would rise up in anger if a secular person tried to force his interpretation of identity onto them. Secular individuals, too, should not have to suffer the authority and intimidation of the religious.

Shas' ( the ultra-Orthodox religious political party which is currently the fourth largest group in the Knesset) persistent efforts to maintain control of the Interior Ministry cannot be allowed to blur the simple fact: Israel is the state of the Israelis, of those without religion just as much as the religious. The Law of Return allows the state to grant Israeli citizenship to any Jew who comes here…. Israel must free itself of the grasp of the priests and paper-pushers of religion. The Kaniuk precedent is an important step in the direction of this objective.”

Subsequently , hundreds of Israelis followed Yoram Kaniuk footstep and declared themselves “without religion” when they assembled on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard. to declare themselves "without religion." They signed affidavits witnessed by attorneys before informing the Interior Ministry of their change of status to "without religion."

Among them was Mickey Gitzin, head of Be Free Israel, a movement advocating freedom from religion.

This decision was taken by about 600 Israeli Jews in response to the social protest that prevailed in Israel during the summer months of 2011.

Gitzin stated why his movement had decided on this step, “We are protesting the Orthodox monopoly over who is a Jew in Israel and the implications for marriage, divorce and burial. This protest is not just to preserve Israel as democratic but also to preserve its Jewish character, by allowing Jews from different denominations and worldviews to live by their faith."

The Orthodoxy intimidation had even reached Britain where authorities there implanted in December 2011 its first “hands-free” pedestrian crossing so that devout Jews do not have to break a religious law that prohibits them from using electricity or operating machinery on the Sabbath.

The crossing is near a busy synagogue, and pressing a button to operate it is considered a breach of the strict rules that apply to Orthodox Jews.

The decision to include automatic crossings was taken after leaders at Finchley United Synagogue explained their predicament to staff at Transport for London, which is responsible for maintaining main roads in the capital.

Senator,

In this and subsequent letters related to this topic, I have adopted the “Committee for Accuracy In the Middle East Reporting in America” (CAMERA) approach. It was established in 1982 and devotes considerable effort and time in quoting those that oppose Israeli policies. CAMERA frequently attacked columnist Patrick Buchanan, Richard Evans and Robert Novak, National Public Radio and others for not being fully supportive of every Israeli action.

Subsequently, CAMERA established a new organization called FLAME [Facts and Logic About the Middle East], which spends considerable sums in placing advertisements in politically sympathetic periodicals such as Commentary, Harper’s, The New Republic and some journalistic publications [like the U.S. News & World Report and New York Times].

I have followed up on religious stories that exceeded 284 episodes since I started my study in 2007 and read Israeli authors, who decried the influence of ultra-Orthodox practices and policies that tarnish Israeli democracy. Quoting the various Israeli writers would deny those that find my effort and time spent as simply being anti-Israel. For the episodes are facts that have happened in the Jewish State but totally ignored by our media, however. These sad episodes gives you. Senator, a true gauge on determining on whether Israel is a democratic or religious state.

These every day realities in Israel are never discussed in America. One explanation is what Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul alluded to which upset his party and all the Christian Zionists, supporters of Israel during the 2007-second primary debate. The Texan Representative told the truth that the pro-Israel lobby prohibits congressmen from speaking the political realities when Congress discusses the Middle East. His bold statement angered his colleagues in Congress and asked him to withdraw his statement and apologize but he did not. Instead he retorted, “The American Congress is not aware of the truth or it does not want to learn about it. Had the harm it inflicts only felt by its constituencies I would not have complained.”

A number of Palestinian political analysts remarked about the powerful pro-Israel lobby, Zionist Christian fundamentals groups, and members of Congress and candidates seeking the highest political post in the land, the presidency, have succeeded in spoon-feeding the American public a misleading picture of the other aspect of Israel, being a religious- oriented state. This unholy trinity between the pro-Israel lobby, Zionist Christians and politicians was responsible for the flow of tens of billions of American taxpayers monies to Israel since its birth in 1948. Also the unholy trinity lavished tax and trade concessions to the Israeli military industrial complex to develop sophisticated weapons, at US taxpayers expense, and sell them to countries that are adversaries of the United States government such as China and Iran [during the Iran-Contra scandal].

The unholy trinity succeeded not only in masquerading Israeli religious-oriented policies but succeeded in presenting a false facade about its "democracy" inside Israel proper that most Americans innocently have accepted as the "real" Israel. The brain-washing of my fellow citizens reminded me of Charles Mackay, a 19^th century English writer and a successful poet and lyricist who remarked, "Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."

This false image has provided the pro-Israel, which has tremendous amount of funds at its disposal and a "brainwashed" receptive media, to cleverly institutionalize a wide range of programs that strengthened the American-Israeli political collusion and distance the American and Arab peoples further and further away to their detriment. The unholy trinity eroded the immense of goodwill and high respects the Arab masses had toward the United States. The majority of moderate Arabs, like myself, believe that America is a champion for human rights, democratic rule, freedom and prosperity of all the peoples in the volatile region.

The best approach to determine on whether Israel is a democracy or a religious state, is to highlight three elements that have contributed to this reality. The first is to share with you the causes that led the secular Zionist leadership in Israel give prominence to the application of Jewish (Orthodox) laws in a dominant secular state, namely a historical background . The second is the important role/influence that the Israeli Orthodox play in the Jewish state. The third is to highlight how every aspect of the Israeli Jew is guided by theocratic laws, which I have gleaned from extensive readings of Israeli books on this topic and Israeli media coverage reflecting the feelings of the majority of secular Israeli Jews. As such these are facts and not mere statements on my part.

The Orthodox Jews insistence that the Bible and Talmud be the basis for Israel’s Fundamental Law is one of the reasons that the Jewish state has no constitution. The first Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion promised (May 1948) to have a constitution by October 1,1948. Several decades later, Israel still has no constitution. He justified the absence of a constitution on the pretext that the Jewish population was constantly growing due to arrival of immigrants and that it was prudent to wait until there was a Jewish majority living in Israel to decide on the way of life. Another crucial reason for not having the constitution was the clash between secular and religious Jews. The Orthodox Jews participating in Ben Gurion’s government demanded that the Bible and Talmud be the basis for Israel’s Fundamental Law, which was not acceptable by secular Jews. Secular Jews expected that when the state adopted a constitution, it would define Israel by secular lawmakers and in secular terms. It would have been very difficult to define the Jewish people in religious terms. Such a move would have stirred up the religious Israelis and caused a political turmoil at a crucial time when the state was establishing itself. This had to be avoided at all costs.

Subsequently, eight years after the birth of Israel, the state decided to adopt a constitution by stages. The Zionist leadership in Israel believed [June 1950] that the gradual development of the constitution was a viable approach. The state enacted the first Basic Law [the Knesset]. Then the state enacted 8 additional Basic Laws, which would be incorporated into the future constitution. However, in none of the 9 Basic Laws is there a provision or even a reference regarding the then 650,000 Arab Israelis, who were supposedly considered Israeli citizens, too.

British Jewish author Susan Nathan, in her book, “The Other Side of Israel,” pointed out, “… Israeli Arabs still face considerable discrimination, mainly because Israel lacks a constitution codifying basic rights, such as equality, freedom of speech and religious freedom, and because important national group rights which determine resource allocations, are only recognized for Jewish citizens.”

Furthermore, the failure of Zionism and subsequently the Jewish leadership in Palestine to resolve the issue of who is a Jew, forced Israel to seek the venue of compromise to avoid perpetual political problems between religious and secular Jews. The leadership decided to maintain the status quo rather then introduce a written constitution.

Adam Garfinkle author of ,“ Politics and Society in Modern Israel,” explained, “Instead [of a constitution], the Knesset agreed that clusters of necessary legislation be passed, each cluster called a Basic Law. In time, it was hoped that those clusters could be somewhat grouped together, a preamble written based, presumably, on the May 1948 Proclamation of the State, and the combination called a constitution. Between 1958 and 1984, the Knesset passed or revised significantly eight Basic Laws: Knesset (1958), Lands (1960), Presidency (1964), Government (1968), State Economy (1975), Military (1976), Jerusalem (1980), and Judiciary (1984). In 1992, it substantially amended the Government basic law. Three others have come up into being in the 1990s, Human Dignity and Liberty, Comptroller, and Freedom of Occupation. …..The Basic Law then took on the status of a near constitutional principle against which all subsequent legislative initiative on the subject would be based. To pass a normal law, a majority of those present [in the Knesset] and voting is sufficient. But to annul or change a law that falls under the rubric of a Basic Law, an absolute majority is needed.”

Although Israeli Orthodox group do not constitute a movement, they are the most extremist constituency among the Israeli population that play a major role in every general election held after the 1967 War. It has considerable impact on the attitude and influence on the political landscape as well as on the Israeli everyday life. Israeli Orthodox leadership succeeded in blurring the secular Zionist political goals for creating Israel by ejecting from Judaism those elements that were not willing to accept its exclusive jurisdiction [i.e. Jews belonging to the Reform and Conservative.] Orthodox rabbis, for example, adopted the narrowest interpretation of religious issues as the Jewish immigration reached its peak in the early 1950s to ensure that the newly arrivals to Israel would accept their views. Their effort to “capture” the Israeli Jewish population sentiments was intensified on a much larger scale after the 1967 War.

Despite the very wide gulf between Israeli Orthodox and secular Jews, the religious leadership received considerable help from the secular Zionist establishment since both were aware that the common uniting element of these diverse Jews arriving to Israel was religion. This thinking encouraged politicians to relegate the State authority of defining Jewishness to the Orthodox, who played an effective role in the earliest formative years in reviving Jewish life in Palestine and were the first to emigrate to the Holy Land although it remained a dormant spirit of nationalist Jews.

It is worth recalling that the first Israeli pioneers were zealot Zionists more than being religious fanatics and the majority of those that fought in the 1948 War were motivated by Zionist ideologue seeking to establish a Jewish State in Palestine and were much less inspired by religious cause.

The 1967 Israeli victory, however, rekindled religious fervor that had been “ignored” by the secular Ashkenazi that dominated every Israeli government since the birth of Israel in 1948. The Ashkenazi are not anti religious but want to maintain the secular facade of the state and at the same time were cognizant that the state had to take into consideration the feelings of religious Jews and allowed it to play a minor role until the 1967 War changed the Israeli political landscape.

My letters will cover the Orthodox laws/practices that impact thefollowing aspects: A- Military; B- Education; C- Orthodox Jews oppose Zionism; D- Orthodox Jew’s Status Prior to 1967 War; E-Orthodox Jew’s Status after 1967 War ; F Orthodox Jews Hate Arabs; : G- Orthodox Jews Hate the Non-Orthodox Jews ; H- Orthodox misogynist attitude; I- Orthodox target American Reform and Conservative Jews; J- Orthodox targeting Christian Missionaries ; K- The conflict between Orthodox and secular Ashkenazi; L- Orthodox disdain of Israeli secular consumers; M- Orthodox attitudes toward Universal Social Causes; N- Orthodox oppose civil marriage; O- Orthodox treatment of divorcee; P- Orthodox racism; Q- Orthodox attitude toward Orthodox converts; R- Orthodox racism ; S- Orthodox rage against Israeli airline El Al; T- Orthodox enforce segregated buses; U- Orthodox don’t honor Israeli Independence/Memorial Day; W- Orthodox ludicrous choice of words to make them kosher; X- Orthodox impose use of parking lots and public parks; Y- Orthodox attempt to influence Knesset legislation; Z- Orthodox views on Jewish settlements; Zb- Orthodox Impact on Israeli Politics.

Earlier on I stated of adopting the CAMERA approach, which tends to quote all of the statements pronounced by Muslim radicals, who according to knowledgeable Western sources constitute a minority in the Arab/Muslim world, simply to blemish the millions of Moderate Arabs and Muslims in the eyes of fellow citizens, whose exposure to a fair and balanced media in our great country is sadly missing. Although I am following CAMERA’S approach, I decided that it was not my aim to blemish the Jewish State, however.

Unlike my previous letters, I have relied extensively on secular Israeli and Orthodox statements and leave it to your judgment to determine on whether Israel is a democracy, such as our great country, or governed by religious doctrines. I leave it to your judgment to decide on whether the theocratic Jewish state has a Western Democracy veneer.

I have quoted extensively on the impact of the Orthodox attitude on aspects of everyday life of Israelis and its ramifications on American Jewry, whose majority are Reform and Conservative Jews.

3-Theocratic Laws/ Practices that impact every aspect of Israeli everyday life.

In this letter I cover the following aspect: A- Military.

A British political analyst wrote about the distribution of hate literature to Israeli soldiers. He revealed, “Until discontinued on 20 July (2009), a booklet published by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, in cooperation with Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu, entitled, ‘On Either Side of the Border’ was given to Israeli army soldiers containing hateful fiction purported to be true. It suggested that the Pope and Vatican cardinals sympathised with Hezbollah’s struggle and conspired with the organisation to kill Jews. It claimed that the Vatican organised Auschwitz tours to teach its members how to do it, and that Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was invited to join a delegation to tour France, Poland, Italy and the Vatican.

The booklet also accused European politicians and journalists of conspiring against Israel. Rabbi Eliahu's aide, David Menahemov, claimed the booklet's material was true, even though the account portrayed was preposterous. Yet one Israeli soldier said everyone in the ranks reads and believes it. Many soldiers told him, ‘Read this and you'll understand who the Arabs are [and why the Israeli cause is just]."

During Operation Cast Lead (winter 2008-2009), 10,000 mp3s were also distributed to Israeli forces with recorded extremist sermons. Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger urged soldiers to “trust in God and know that war is being waged for the sanctification of His name ... and not to fear. [Soldiers] should not think of [their] wi(ves) or children or [their] mother (s) and father(s).“

Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar called the Gaza conflict “a holy mission that is being waged in the name of the entire Jewish people.”

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu added, ‘Our intention is to uplift soldiers' spirits’ in battle against Hamas terrorists. The Israeli army rabbinate division, Jewish Consciousness Field (JCF), also distributed a pamphlet entitled “Jewish Consciousness Emphases for Cast Lead” calling military rabbis “Anointed Priests of War.“

A JCF officer, Shmuel Yurman, explained the pamphlet's purpose as follows: “This is the hour to strengthen our fighters in this heavenly commanded war that they have the merit to wage. Each (rabbi) has the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to the IDF battle spirit. Nevertheless, in order to enlighten and focus the spiritual message, JCF learned and prepared itself for this war before the operation began and as it was being fought. In meetings with soldiers and officers on the southern front we listened to the spiritual needs.”

The head of JCF head, Rabbi Tzadok Ben-Artzi, justified the war saying: “We, the people who contributed to the world the book of books, who want to build a society based on creativity and peace, love of mankind and faith in good, find ourselves chased by blind hatred that is motivated by 'religious' terminology and aspires to bloodshed and cruelty.”

He advised Israeli army rabbis to say that the war's aim is “to save the Jewish people from its enemies” and eradicate evil in the world. “Other extremist rabbis voiced the same sentiment, and, under Brigadier General Avichai Ronzki's command, the Israeli army's rabbinate theologised military missions and fed messianic dogma to young minds. Many in the ranks are already zealots enough to make spreading this gospel all the easier,” remarked the British analyst

It was not until June 2009 that the Israeli High Court met in a session to discuss the controversial Tal Law - which exempts young Haredi men from military service on religious grounds. The Court was responding to a petition from secular Jews who had formed a coalition of reservists, wounded veterans, parents of soldiers in compulsory service and others that wanted it to consider to overturn the law. The Justices pointed out the Tal law, meant to provide flexibility for Torah study, allows 18-year-old yeshiva students to postpone their military service every year until the age of 22, at which point they decide whether to work or study. Those who choose to work need to choose between army service of four months or civil service of one year. As such the Law doesn't encourage military service among the Haredi community, who are involved in civil service, rather than military service.

Senator

Yehuda Rassler, one of the petition's signatories, expressed his motivation in appealing to the High Court on the issue. "There are two types of citizens; there's discrimination between blood and blood and it needs to stop. This is a cancer within the nation; this is a prejudiced law," he said.

The Orthodox Jews were upset when Gabrielle Pollack sought to say Kaddish ( a short prayer said three times a day for eleven months after the passing of a parent) for her recently deceased grandmother in upstate New York, the young female soldier found out that in the Israeli Army, it could be daunting to be a Conservative Jew. The 19-year old belonged to the Conservative youth movement Noam serving together in Nahal, a military division that combines army service, civil service, and work for their movement. But the military chaplaincy, like all of Israel’s official Jewish religious agencies, is an Orthodox institution that does not recognize a woman’s right to be counted and participate equally in formal prayer. The base chaplain initially agreed instead to let her organize an alternative, egalitarian minyan (a quorum of at least 10 male Jews older than 13 years of age in which communal prayers are conducted) at the base’s sanctuary where she could do so — but then reneged, apparently after an Orthodox soldier on the base protested.

For Israel’s tiny Masorti movement, as the Conservative Judaism movement is known in Israel, the episode offered an opportunity to once again make its case against Orthodox Judaism’s monopoly of the Jewish state’s governmental religious institutions. An Israeli reporter pointed out, “Under settled arrangements governing religion and state in Israel, all Jewish religious appointments and places of worship under state jurisdiction rest in the hands of the Orthodox. This includes army synagogues, which are used exclusively for Orthodox services, and the army rabbinate, which is staffed only by Orthodox chaplains…

There are about 40,000 Conservative Jews in Israel. Meanwhile, even discounting Haredi, who do not serve in the army, around 700,000 Israelis — one in 10 — are traditionally observant — or in American terms, Orthodox. Roughly another 700,0000 define themselves as religiously traditional, usually meaning that on occasion they attend an Orthodox synagogue.

That is still a minority. But the Conservative movement is unlikely to experience much support from the secular Jewish majority. Secular Jews often decry incursions by Orthodoxy into the secular arena. But where there is a place for religion in government or society, such as in army synagogues, they expect it to be Orthodox.”

In July 2011, the former Israel Defense Forces Human Resources head Avi Zamir, after a month of completing his tenure, called on the army to halt its tendency to religious extremism and renegotiate the relationship between secular and religious soldiers. He wrote a 30-page report to the Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and his General Staff colleagues detailing the struggle between the Education Corps and the Military Rabbinate, and stressed rabbinic demands for modesty undermine the standing of female officers and soldiers. He called for curtailing religion's role in the IDF. Zamir’s report followed another report by the chief of staff's adviser on women's affairs. Brigadier General Gila Kalifi-Amir had wrote that the "appropriate inclusion" orders, regulations designed to minimize tension between women and religious men, are being applied in increasingly strict ways, to the point of creating "untenable" situations and "extreme religious coercion."

The two reports led to rabbis inside and outside the army to demand from the top IDF brass that there be no unilateral change to the status quo.

Zamir pointed out that if the army did not act right away, the cultural war among the ranks will intensify, and this may seriously endanger the abilities of the IDF to carry out its tasks.

An Israeli reporter explained, “A great part of the current debate is focused on the order for ‘appropriate inclusion,’ which was introduced in 2003 at rabbis' demands, and was originally intended to minimize tension between religious soldiers and female soldiers by creating a physical separation.

For example, men cannot enter women's barracks and religious soldiers may serve in men-only units. Moreover, in units where women serve in combat roles, like the Home Front Command and some units in the Engineering Corps, there are men-only companies.

The General Staff has received many complaints by female officers and soldiers who faced discrimination due to extreme applications of the orders. For instance, there have been reports of battalion commanders who refused to hold entertainment shows that included women because of concerns that religious officers and soldiers would complain. Women also are filling fewer training positions because religious soldiers have objected.”

Furthermore Kalifi-Amir wrote an article in the April (2011) issue of IDF magazine Ma'arachot summarizing the findings of a study ordered by the army on this topic. She indicated, “’Appropriate inclusion' has become, over time, the main, if not the only, perspective through which joint service by women and men is implemented. The order originally was intended to create a comfortable and respectful environment for all soldiers, but the way it is being implemented in practice is causing a double loss: Women's actions are being limited, and appropriate inclusion rules are being interpreted in an increasingly extreme manner, to the point where they are becoming untenable and impose religious extremism."

The Israeli military started to draft ultra-Orthodox soldiers for the first time. The enlisted 60 Haredi men enlisted in the corps will serve in a separate unit. This unique arrangement, in a country that professes to be Democratic, had been negotiated between the Defense Ministry and yeshiva heads who allowed their students to be drafted.

Moreover the first 60 recruits were receiving their basic training in a separate area of the corps' training in a military base in the southern Negev. The IDF sanctioned the visit of several rabbis visit to the base to ascertain the arrangements for the Haredi conscripts, which they approved and ensure the recruits will receive food with special kosher certification and will be allotted time for prayer and religious study.

Ahead of the Jewish Rosh Hashana day, the IDF Rabbinate initiated “Operational Elul,” a religious revival campaign mostly based on lectures delivered by rabbis to tens of thousands of soldiers. The military allowed a secular soldier who is not interested in hearing the lectures to skip them. The reasoning was that religious soldiers demand to skip performances by female singers. IDF Chief of

Yair Lapid remarked, “Observant Jews operate based on the belief that there are a certain set of complex laws by which all Jews must live. It is certainly the right of every soldier to reject these laws or to interpret them differently; no one is questioning the existence of free will.

That being said, even one who rejects this religious legal system can be expected to be intellectually honest about the fact that a secular soldier who does not want to listen to a rabbinical lecture is expressing a desire, whereas a religious soldier who walks out of a concert because a woman is singing is, from his perspective, fulfilling a religious legal duty.

The IDF, in general, goes out of its way to make certain that soldiers have the ability to serve in the army and to live halachically, should they so choose. If you’ve served in the IDF, you could rattle off a list of examples without much effort: all of the food in the army is kosher (and no exceptions are made for secular soldiers who are in the mood for a cheeseburger), soldiers are given time to pray three times each day at the appropriate times, there is a synagogue on every base where soldiers who are not currently in combat are able to pray and hear the Torah reading on Shabbat and on holidays and more recently, though it’s not necessarily a halachic obligation, the IDF made it possible for religious soldiers to combine yeshiva study with their military service.“

He added,, “If a soldier who stands at attention during a Holocaust Commemoration Day or Memorial Day ceremony cannot think of anything else but the level of sexiness in a female singer’s voice, he should be released from the IDF in any case on mental grounds……If a secular soldier can’t bear to listen to a rabbi talk about his/her roots for an hour, he has a serious issue. Both of these statements are based on our own personal desires and emotions. Let’s leave our desires and emotions out of the discussion. Let’s be intellectually honest about the difference between a perceived moral obligation and a boring, irrelevant lecture.”

Hagai Segal pointed out, “The affair involving religious soldiers stepping out of a performance at their training base because of female singers is a classic clash of two extremities. …..

Not too long ago I was at a national commemoration ceremony at Mount Herzl. Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar was sitting in the first row. Suddenly, without advance warning, a female in uniform walked up to the microphone and started to sing. All eyes were on the rabbi – will he be stepping out now? Yet the honorable rabbi remained seated. He looked down, and that’s it…..

This was very noble of the rabbi, and he was the only person to act nobly there. For a while now, the IDF has not been an army of seculars only. Religious Israelis are procreating and enlisting en masse, and we must take them into consideration. If the IDF is the people’s army, then it’s also the army of the religious…. Some 42% of officer course cadets are religious these days and we even have religious division commanders and a religious deputy army chief.

The military’s cultural offerings must undergo a comprehensive reform that will adapt them to the sociological changes in the IDF. If we cannot avoid the friction between female voices and religious ears, perhaps we should be giving up our military bands. Former Army Chief Rafael Eitan already terminated them once upon a time; who was the idiot who brought them back? “

In December 2011, parents of soldiers who recently completed an IDF medics' course were shocked to discover that in the invitation to the graduation ceremony they were instructed to arrive in "modest clothing." The Israeli media refer to this episode, “The wording of the invitation was seemingly normal: ‘The Military Medical School is honored to invite you to the graduation ceremony of the military medics' course.’

However, on the back of the invitation, below a list of driving instructions and other details, it was written in bold letters: ‘(Guests must) arrive in modest clothing.’ “

A month later, January 2012, the IAF Chief Rabbi Moshe Raved resigned from his post as head a program which recruits haredim over a decision not to excuse religious soldiers from official events featuring women's singing.

In the same month Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, head of the Elon Moreh yeshiva and a prominent religious Zionist figure, informed his students of his decision to quit his post in protest over IDF policy banning boycotts of events with women singers.

Subsequently, a haredi soldier’s reaction to his resignation was published in the Israeli media. It reported, “A haredi soldier said in an interview with Kol Hai Radio, ’ Rabbi Raved resigned, I will also leave the program. I'm certain others will do the same. The rabbi set an example, and if he (left), we'll all find a way to get out of here (army), because the IDF has betrayed us. We were specifically told we would not have to attend 'mixed' events or listen to lectures given by women. Now these promises have been broken,’ …..Addressing the army's decision not to excuse religious soldiers from official events that feature women's singing, the soldier said ‘clearly this will lead to insubordination because we are Orthodox, not reform soldiers. We will abide by the Halacha.’

He warned that the 2,000 Shahar soldiers ‘would prefer sitting in jail than hear women sing, because they know the Halacha forbids it.’ "

These episodes, among many other instances, led in January 2012 to the Israeli Ynet lament, “As concerns are rising in Israel over the exclusion of women from the public sphere, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is focusing on promoting the role of women in Muslim societies. “

Yaron London echoed the warning that Israel was en route of becoming Iran-style state. London wrote. “They (Orthodox rabbis) believe that the more strictly they adhere to religious rules, the sooner the Messiah will come. The rabbis of the messianic camp encourage their students to serve in the army and turn it into God’s army. The resistance to female singing is one of many manifestations of messianic tendencies in the military…. I do know enough to assess the damages of ultra-Orthodox radicalization – it constitutes a substantive and imminent danger. Demography is rushing forward at a speed similar to that of the Iranian race to the bomb……

In 2034, according to the conservative forecast, there will be 1.4 million ‘Jews who are not haredim’ in this age group (19.). The ultra-Orthodox shall number roughly one million and the Arabs some 750,000. ….. In light of these figures, only a fool would avoid the reasonable assumption that in the next generation the Zionist share of the population would be a minority. If the haredi community’s spirit and lifestyle don’t change, it would be doubtful whether Israel would be a political entity that is different than surrounding states: A theocratic county, poor in economic and spiritual terms, incredibly crowded and very similar to the frightening Iran.

Should the Iranians show patience, they would be able to spare themselves the effort inherent in developing a nuclear bomb.”

The ultra-Orthodox soldiers in the military worked against the State’s policy when it came to removal illegal settlements in the Wes Bank. In January 2012, five extremists were charged with planning and taking part in a December 2011 riot in the Ephraim Territorial Brigade base and tracking the military’s activity in the West Bank and collecting information of military value. They had planned to thwart the removal of illegal West Bank outposts by storming IDF bases and clashing with troops. The Government had decided to evacuate the Yitzhar outpost on the night of December 12, but the plan was sabotaged by the riot. They had operated a hotline for several months in 2011 that received reports of scheduled outpost removals and other "suspicious" IDF and police activity in the West Bank. While some of the intelligence was reported by residents designated as observers and patrollers, IDF soldiers supplied the activists with information from within their army bases.

The Israeli media revealed, “The intelligence that the defendants received, which included the schedule of the removal, came from some 30 sources. The names, times and content of the reports were documented. The collected data showed the location of IDF forces and included information about army operations and scheduled deployment. Moreover, the defendants allegedly got their hands on confidential aerial images that included military codes and mapped out various areas in the Judea and Samaria Division. The materials were hidden in an apartment that the defendants shared. “

A secular Israeli Jew wrote, “As long as the IDF boasts of how many religious Jews it has among its combat ranks, it shouldn't be surprised by the fact that religious Jews have an agenda. They either have friends in the settlements or are themselves are residents of settlements who won't lend a hand to house demolitions there, even if the houses were built illegally. For some, service in the IDF is conditional on not receiving orders that contradict the divine decrees transmitted by their rabbis. They don't view passing on information about plans to destroy their homes as a crime, but as a religious obligation.

Would the IDF be willing on this account to forgo the service of an entire community that it views as ‘the salt of the earth‘? Would it be willing to exclude them from army service the way it does many Israeli Arabs?

After all, the exemption Israeli Arabs receive from IDF service rests in part on the desire not to put them into a situation in which they would have to fight their brothers across the border. Settlers similarly understand that IDF soldiers won't fight their brothers from the territories.

Moreover, anyone who views passing information to settlers as serious espionage, even treason, must in the same breath define that band of thugs as an enemy of the state. But as long as the prime minister refrains even from calling the torchers of mosques and uprooters of olive trees ‘terrorists,’ much less enemies of the state, the suspicions of ‘espionage’ leveled against MK Zeev Elkin (Likud) are pathetic.

Elkin is no more of a criminal than those who have hitherto allowed these illegal buildings to go up - the same buildings about which he reported on plans to demolish, or not demolish. Indeed, he has more integrity than those who, for months and years, have been making a mockery of the High Court of Justice, which ordered these buildings destroyed, or than those who knew in advance that these buildings were slated to be built on privately-owned Palestinian land, or than those who portray the leaking of this ‘secret’ information to the settlers as a blow to the IDF's most deeply-held secrets.”

God bless America and its people. (To be continued.)