Israel – Personal security guards are becoming a regular installment in the United Torah Judaism party. Three of the party’s leaders – Meir Porush, Yossi Deutsch, and Yaacov Berger – have been assigned personal security details recently. The security details have been supplied by the police.
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Sources in the haredi community claim that the backdrop for this move is the Jerusalem municipal elections, in which the haredi bloc lost the mayor seat. The Gur Hasidism movement, led by MK Yaakov Litzman, opposed the election of Porush to the position of mayor.
During the time of elections, anti-Porush propaganda was published. Gur Hasidism was accused of printing the propaganda, but the claims have never been proven.
Litzman’s camp insists it has no connection whatsoever to the anti-Porush propaganda.
Recently, two of Porush’s party leaders have been walking around with security details due to threats made to the party, on the backdrop of thousands of leaflets and posters that were distributed, supposedly by Porush supporters, in haredi population centers against MK Litzman.
Many haredi circles declared that they would vote for Shas rather than UTJ in the upcoming elections because of their anger at the Gur Hasidism movement. Shas election offices were even set up in many haredi cities that typically vote UTJ.
Internal circles in UTJ claim that the Gur Hasidism movement is responsible for the negative campaign against Litzman to Porush supporters. UTJ leader Berger said that he has been flooded with malicious telephone calls recently due to the tense situation between the two camps.
“Anonymous callers are calling my house, threatening to beat me up and kill me,” Berger testified.
According to him, it is clear that the day will come when he will be assaulted. “I am certain it will come. In the meantime, the police have assigned me a security detail, but I am not afraid and continue to work for United Torah Judaism,” Berger asserted.
It is a shame that the police have to be diverted from protecting the public in order to provide private security gurards for politicians of ANY party, religious or secular, based on their intramural fights with other politicians. Let them arrange for their own security like other “celebraties” do and let the police, who are streched to their limits anyway, do their job of protecting us against terrorists. It seems like every time these guys open their mouths there is another fight with another faction or with another rebbes’s chasidim. They should all take their petty arguments to some island and create their own littel gehenon and leavet the rest of us to live in peace. (or as close was we are likely to get).
As long as the Machlokes is lshem shomyaim its fine, you can harass, hit,curse no problem.
It would seem from this article that Litzman should have police protection from Porush followers. The Porush followers are angry at Litzman and Ger for the Porush loss. They have been maligning and attacking Ger since the Jerusalem elections.
This is the result of becoming utterly dependant on government funding. Haredim get kollel checks,land for shuls yeshivas etc. The jobs in chinuch are all in the hands of political parties.The haredim need subsidized housing to survive.
Do not think for a moment this is “sinas chinom “. These fights are truly about the liveliood of thousands of haredim. As the needs of the communities grow and the budgets sink.(It simply is a mathematical equation ,the haredim are growing relative to the rest of the population ) We can expect the fights to get nastier.
PS For those who think Dushinsky, Torah V’yirah etc. are not an interested party.
There are three levels of funding among the Satmar NK crew.
Some give the names and citizen numbers of their students to other schools and get payments with.a commision removed.
Some just sell the names and get a set fee.(less medina..really if someone is paying for my name who am I to complain?)
The frummest hint to the parents how to sell the names and to who. (they wash their hands from the whole process.)
sadly this machlokes is so deep embedded in the heimeshe community here…and although i’m no Porush fan, I think that the Gerres are trying to have the only power over the chareidi community, and therefore didn’t want Porush to win as mayor – to show him who is the boss… R’ Sahch Zt”l was right…
they are hungry for POWER…