A high-ranking Justice Ministry official, the Reform Movement
and Ha'aretz have joined forces to wage an
unprecedented battle against chareidi Jewry, trying to bring
its institutions to the point of collapse by cutting off or
reducing budget funding based on "professional
considerations."
For years complaints have been heard repeatedly about Atty.
Amnon De Hartoch, who oversees support for institutions
within the government and is known for seeking out every
opportunity to scheme against Torah-based schools and
institutions. Often resorting to totally groundless
interpretations of various laws and regulations, he works
tirelessly to cut off funding sources for Torah institutions,
avreichim, schools, teachers, transportation to
Chinuch Atzmai schools, etc. The primary victims of his
directives are yaldei Yisroel, who are forced to
suffer ongoing, unprecedented and systematic abuse for
choosing to attend chareidi schools.
In the course of the cultural war he is trying to wage, De
Hartoch has also issued sophisticated, brazen unrestrained
remarks reflecting his personal sentiments against the
chareidi public, mainly in a personal court case he filed.
"A destructive triumvirate has declared war," said MK Rabbi
Moshe Gafni. "This trio has three heads, each one hammering
away constantly with its sledgehammer, and all three are
coordinating their stances." Rabbi Gafni's remarks are a
reference to De Hartoch's new link with his friend Gilad
Kariv of the Reform Movement, who has often filed High Court
petitions against the chareidi education system and recently
even filed a complaint to the Knesset Ethics Committee for
insulting a public worker. Meanwhile Ha'aretz has been
publishing articles filled with defamatory remarks —
without providing support or reactions — solely
intended to deprecate the chareidi public.
Representatives from the State Comptroller's department in
charge of government ministries began investigating a
detailed complaint submitted by Rabbi Gafni regarding De
Hartoch's conduct. After several meetings with De Hartoch,
another meeting is expected to be held between De Hartoch and
the State Comptroller and his staff.
De Hartoch has been known to take advantage of his vested
authority to trample over the chareidi education system at
every possible opportunity. In one incident he instructed the
City of Hadera to close a local Chinuch Atzmai school, Shuvu,
for "lack of structural suitability." A high-voltage
electrical line ran close to the school, supposedly posing a
risk of electromagnetic radiation to the students. In this
and other cases, claims Rabbi Gafni, De Hartoch exceeded his
authority since support funding is unrelated to environmental
issues.
De Hartoch once tried to deprive chareidi teachers of their
salary during the summer break and was harshly reprimanded by
the State Comptroller. In another case he made a unilateral
decision to require 45 hours of weekly study at
kollelim, but later, to invent a new interpretation to
undermine the Torah world in another area, he decided to
claim avreichim are required to study 35 hours per
week.
Recently the Knesset had to legislate a special law to
require local authorities to provide chareidi schools equal
funding in order to remedy the damage caused by De Hartoch,
who had ordered local authorities to deny the schools basic
funding. On other occasions he has worked to take away
funding from Torah-based cultural activities and rabbonim in
outlying settlements. Recently he issued a new directive
effectively depriving the Torah Core Group run by the
chareidi community in Yeruchom of funding, re-channeling it
to a national-religious Torah Core Group in the city.
For years Ha'aretz has been abetting these efforts by
running innumerable articles against the chareidi public and
chareidi MKs. Public figures have expressed surprise that in
most cases the reports failed to include reactions from
chareidi spokesmen — a clear departure from
journalistic ethics — and said these articles are
tendentious and extreme in terms of style. Presumably
Ha'aretz, often considered a very professional,
highbrow daily, would never write such articles about the
Arab sector, for example.
