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7 Nissan 5763 - April 9, 2003 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Worldwide Chareidi Community Prepares to Fight Economic Assault
by Betzalel Kahn

The chareidi public in Israel and around the world is preparing to fight against the economic deathblows the government is set to deliver in the form of the proposed economic plan designed to hack away at Torah institutions and directly at Torah-true Jewry throughout Israel. In Israel, United Torah Jewry representatives held an emergency meeting last Thursday to discuss ways to combat the malicious decrees.

A delegation of roshei yeshivos, rabbonim and public figures set out for the U.S. this week to raise public awareness among chareidi Jewry in the Diaspora regarding the unprecedented assault against the chareidi sector in Israel. Under the guidance of gedolei Yisroel delegation heads will explain that the Israeli government is currently finalizing a so-called economic program that consists not merely of budget alterations to save the economy, as Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu claims, but also a directed campaign to squeeze the chareidi sector on all sides.

The delegation will also explain that these economic decrees were inspired by haters of religion in the Shinui Party and elsewhere, who forged coalition agreements and verbal understandings with heads of the newly instated government to clamp down on the entire chareidi sector, and are now setting forth their plans in the guise of an economic program "to save the Israeli economy."

Delegation members, together with heads of the chareidi community in the U.S., will meet with various figures in Washington D.C.--congressmen, senators, lobbyists and heads of the Administration--asking them to prevent the injustice hanging over the chareidi sector. The delegates will explain that the chareidi sector was compelled to turn directly to political figures in Washington because the Israeli government is presenting the economic program to the public as a plan imposed upon it by the U.S. in order to receive loan guarantees, saying therefore the entire Israeli public has no choice other than to accept it. Netanyahu has made direct references to National Security Advisor Ms. Condoleeza Rice, who praised the plan, and he claims the government will only grant Israel loan guarantees if the plan is approved and carried out in full.

"The Israeli government is seeking to promote malicious political moves in the name of the Americans, undoubtedly without their knowledge," states a message the delegates plan to present. "The budget cuts that affect the chareidi sector are not based on economic considerations but are guided by hostile aspirations and a desire to destroy the chareidi sector and the Torah world, which stands watch over the embers of the original, deep-rooted Judaism."

Representatives of the chareidi community in the U.S. will ask key figures in Washington to make their voices heard on this matter based on a recognition that the U.S. government seeks to act with fairness toward minorities. Activists say based on the positive relations between the federal government and Torah-true Judaism in the U.S., following the meetings they believe national government leaders and legislators on Capitol Hill will clarify to the Israeli government that they do not want to see a specific sector harmed by the budget cuts and will ask that their names not be used to promote political ends and a campaign to wage a "cultural war" against the chareidi sector.

 

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