The real UTJ

Reader Judy Auerbach is “dismayed and disappointed” over the fact that “religious member of Knesset Moshe Gafni requested that Jewish politicians not be allowed to ascend the Temple Mount for fear of provoking the nations of the world” (“Gafni and provocations,” Letters, October 31). What she fails to grasp is that Gafni’s United Torah Judaism party is not a Zionist party and has never believed in the legitimacy of a Jewish state.

Its adherents do not celebrate Independence Day, do not stand in silence on Remembrance Day and do not serve in the IDF. They dress and live with a galut mentality and fear of gentiles, which they consider part and parcel of their haredi tradition. To them, the rest of us here are gentiles, too, and we exist only to help finance their anachronistic, fear-driven lifestyle.

That they participate in Israel’s political circus is purely in order have unlimited access to the taxpayer’s wallet. J.J. GROSS Jerusalem