Haredim send pupils to school in defiance of gov’t restrictions

PM, Edelstein threaten fines, revocation of licenses if institutions remain open

In a massive display of civil disobedience, tens of thousands of ultra- Orthodox children in COVID- 19 red- zone cities went back to school on Sunday in defiance of the government decision to keep those institutions closed.

Children in Bnei Brak, Elad, Modi’in Illit, and Beitar Illit, all of which are defined as red- zone cities due to high COVID- 19 infection rates, and some Jerusalem neighborhoods as well, returned to their studies despite the government’s instructions.

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday night, if somewhat obliquely, that enforcement would be stepped up inside red- zone cities, including the issuance of fines, and called on “community leaders” to ensure that government health regulations are observed.

“I call on all community heads, to the ultra- Orthodox community, to comply with the rules, to ensure that they are respected, and regardless we need more enforcement,” Netanyahu said.

“Increasing enforcement means ensuring the closures are tight, and inside cities we need to issue fines as far as this is needed,” he continued, saying, however, that he hoped compliance with the government decisions would be adopted “voluntarily and [ through] mutual understanding.”

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein was more forthright, however, saying that institutions which open without authorization will be subjected to heavy fines, and that he was also examining the possibility of revoking the budgets and even operating licenses of schools that remain open.

In a speech at Ariel University, Edelstein admonished those not obeying the rules – specifically the schools in the ultra- Orthodox “red” cities that reopened illegally – saying they would be dealt with harshly. If the regulations were not followed exactly as they should be, he said, it would send the entire country back into a sweeping lockdown.

Edelstein threatened to revoke the licenses and slash the budgets of the yeshivot that opened against the rules and that “they should not complain later that the state is abusing them.

“I call on all parents, and even more so if they are MKs and elected officials: Do not send your children to educational institutions that operate in violation of the law,” Edelstein added. “This should be clear to

all of us.”

He also said that, “if regulations are not followed and morbidity rises, these [ red] cities will stay in lockdown… It’s important to remember that the lockdown is not a punishment, but a way of bringing down the infection rate.”

He pleaded with the public to obey the law to the letter, even when there was no law enforcement nearby.

Over the weekend, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the two most senior rabbis in the ultra- Orthodox non- hassidic community, instructed such schools to reopen regardless of the government’s decisions.

Kanievsky did not issue a blanket order or public statement on the matter, but when ultra- Orthodox school principals asked whether they should open, he instructed them to do so.

Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, who along with Kanievsky is the other most senior rabbi in the sector, has been more cautious and urged principals who asked him whether to open, not to come into conflict with the government and the police, but to open schools if possible.

Many hassidic schools have also opened.

Children in ultra- Orthodox neighborhoods within the Sephardi sector have not opened in line with the ruling of Rabbi Shalom Cohen, president of the Shas Council of Torah Sages, a decision affecting some 50,000 children.

Shortly after Netanyahu’s comments, senior United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni spoke with the prime minister by phone, and “underlined the demands” of Kanievsky.

“The possibility of finding an agreed- upon plan for reducing the number of children in classrooms and studying in large spaces inside schools while observing the Health Ministry regulations is being examined,” said Gafni, adding that “we believe that the great Torah scholars will not cause mistakes.”

On Monday, many ultra- Orthodox yeshivas for students aged 17 and above will reopen for the new semester as well, although this process is largely being conducted in agreement with the government.

Around 30,000 yeshiva students studying in 400 yeshivas with dormitories will be able to return to their studies within a capsule system.

Another 13,000 yeshiva student study at yeshivas not included in this plan, and it remains to be seen how many of those yeshivas open in violation of the Health Ministry regulations.

The yeshiva capsule system was much criticized however during the Elul semester, during which yeshivas seemingly did not enforce the capsule rules and some 5,000 students became infected with COVID19.

Hannah Brown contributed to this report. •

Prof. Yedidya Stern, an expert on haredi society at the Israel Democracy Institute.

It is an event in which one societal group, en masse, has openly flouted and defied the law, choosing instead to follow the opinion of a source of authority other than the government.

Moreover, this was not a group of anti- Zionist extremists from the depths of Mea She’arim, but a massive slice of the haredi mainstream. They are people who vote in national and municipal elections, who have a good understanding of broader Israeli society – and many of them, especially the women, have jobs.

Nevertheless, on Sunday, the belief of the ultra- Orthodox community in the concept of “Da’at Torah” – the idea that great Torah scholars have an innate ability to make the right decisions on temporal matters regardless of their lack of expertise on such issues – outweighed their commitment to the law.

These events represent a challenge to the State of Israel on a level previously unthought of until the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the haredi community has for a long time been largely exempt from military service, these exemptions were granted under the sanction of the law.

The extremists on the militaryservice issue have marked themselves out by refusing to even formally receive their exemption at IDF enlistment offices, while the vast majority of the ultra- Orthodox mainstream made sure to lawfully receive that exemption.

But today, at the beginning of the school semester, that same majority chose to politely ignore the law and take their children to school.

What Sunday’s event presages for the future of the Jewish state is unclear. The COVID- 19 pandemic has magnified the country’s already troubling societal divisions, and it is possible that once this crisis recedes, so too will the clashes it has spawned.

But Israel faces no small number of external challenges besides this current health crisis. If a large and growing portion of the population does not feel it is part of the national effort to protect the very lives of the nation, the government and the country at large will need to think about how it will tackle its other challenges in the future. • but foremost a global and regional problem,” he said. “As defense minister, I will continue to lead the necessary actions to prevent Iran’s spread and armament with our old and new partners. All the countries of the world must join this important effort.”

Russia has openly eyed arms sales to Iran in recent weeks. Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan last week said Moscow would be willing to sell Iran the S- 400 missile- defense system. Last month, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov hailed “new opportunities in our cooperation with Iran” to emerge after the embargo ends.

China and Iran have been holding ongoing negotiations for a 25- year strategic partnership

that would include military cooperation, among many other areas. US reports have indicated that Iran and North Korea have renewed cooperation on ballistic missiles, and Turkey also seeks to sell weapons to Iran.

At the same time, Iran may wait until after the US presidential election next month before deciding how to proceed, in light of divergent policies on the matter by US President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Trump has pursued a “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign in an attempt to drive Iran back to the negotiating table. Biden has called for a return to the 2015 Iran deal negotiated by president Barack Obama’s administration, in which he was vice president, which would grant some sanctions relief for Tehran and then negotiate to strengthen that agreement.

Shortly before midnight, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said “America failed” and that “as of today, all restrictions on the transfer of arms, related activities and financial services to and from the Islamic Republic... are all automatically terminated.”

The statement pointed out that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action ( JCPOA), as the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers was called, stipulated that the arms embargo and other restrictions in the future – on Iran’s ballistic– missile program in 2023 and nuclear program in 2025 – would be automatically lifted. These are called the deal’s “sunset clauses.”

The JCPOA also allows for “snapback sanctions,” which were meant to induce Iranian compliance with the agreement by threatening that any party to it could unilaterally block the “sunset” of restrictions on Iran if the regime violates the agreement’s terms.

Iran has repeatedly contravened the JCPOA. An International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) report from last month confirmed that Iran breached the restriction on enriching uranium, the stockpile limit on uranium hexafluoride gas, the limit on the number of advanced centrifuges and the prohibition on accumulated enriched uranium, as well as the prohibition of uranium activities at the Fordow facility.

Tehran has boasted in recent months that it does not need to import arms and is looking to export its drones, missiles and other technology. In fact, Iran developed its own ballistic missile and missile- defense capabilities, including the Qassem precisionguided ballistic missile, with a range of 1,400 km., and the Abu Mahdi cruise missile, whose range is more than 1,000 km., which were unveiled in August.

In January, the “E3” – France, Germany and the UK – invoked the JCPOA’s dispute resolution mechanism in light of Iran’s violations, which have continued in the subsequent months.

Yet, when the US sought to trigger snapback sanctions to block the UN arms embargo’s expiry, the E3 along with the JCPOA’s other signatories, the EU, China, Russia and, of course, Iran, would not cooperate, saying the US had no right to do so because it left the Iran deal in 2015.

However, the US has pointed out that the snapback sanctions

are part of UN Security Resolution 2231, as opposed to just the JCPOA, and that resolution specifically lists the US as one of the parties that can reinstate sanctions in light of Iranian violations.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo initiated the snapback sanctions in August, and the process allowed other UN Security Council members 30 days to dispute it. But none did because they did not recognize the validity of the American declaration.

On September 20, Pompeo said the embargo was reimposed and announced new sanctions against Iran as part of the US “maximum pressure” plan.

“The United States expects all UN Member States to fully comply with their obligations to implement these measures,” Pompeo said. “In addition to the arms embargo, this includes restrictions such as the ban on Iran engaging in enrichment and reprocessing- related activities, the prohibition on ballisticmissile testing and development by Iran, and sanctions on the transfer of nuclear- and missilerelated technologies to Iran, among others.”

“If UN Member States fail to fulfill their obligations to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures and ensure that Iran does not reap the benefits of UN- prohibited activity,” he said.

The EU arms embargo on Iran will continue through 2023, but none of the other JCPOA parties has thus far adopted the US position.

Israel has carried out more than 1,000 airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria in recent years, and Jerusalem has warned about the precision- munitions factories in Lebanon, including in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the UN General Assembly last month.

Gulf states, except for Qatar, are concerned about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and Saudi King Salman dedicated much of his UNGA address to Tehran’s malign actions.

Meanwhile, Iran is proud of its indigenous military capabilities, honed through the crucible of the Iran- Iraq War, which has led to the country expanding its ballistic- missile, drone and radar capabilities. It has trafficked weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, ballistic missiles to Iraq and other arms to Syria and Lebanon. • day back from the full lockdown.

Marc agreed it was a good idea and set out for the seven- minute walk with his expensive long- lens camera in tow. Fifteen minutes later, he returned to the office, red in the face and somewhat breathless.

“That wasn’t a great idea,” he said. “I got attacked, and somebody tried to steal my camera.”

He had walked up the street, snapping some shots along the way. A car passing by slowed down, and a young haredi couple, around 30 years old, started yelling at him: “What are you taking pictures of? Get out of here!”

The man got out of the car and confronted Marc, throwing a couple punches and attempting to break his camera. Marc

resisted and grabbed his camera back. But fearing for his safety, he decided to retreat to the Post.

First, however, he called the police to file a complaint against the couple, who tried to prevent him from doing his job. We would get our photo one way or another, but that became less of a priority in the wake of the realization that Marc could have been seriously hurt.

That’s the state of the nation in this era of social divisions brought on by the deep distrust and disdain that Israel’s clans feel for each other – a nadir that has made walking down the street with a camera a risky venture. •