A Critical Week Ahead

13 Tammuz 5786 

The anniversary of the Second Lebanon War is coming up on the 16th of Tammuz.  Here we are twenty years later, repeating the same mistakes, expecting a different outcome.  

...On 11 August 2006 [Av 17], the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 (UNSCR 1701) in an effort to end the hostilities, which called for disarmament of Hezbollah, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and for the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces and an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south. The Lebanese Army began deploying in Southern Lebanon on 17 August and the blockade was lifted on 8 September.  On 1 October, most Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon, although the last of the troops continued to occupy the border-straddling village of Ghajar.

Both Hezbollah and the Israeli government claimed victory, while the Winograd Commission deemed the war a missed opportunity for Israel as it did not lead to disarmament of Hezbollah.

The Parashah for the week when the war broke out was Pinchas, whose haftarah [Yirmiyahu 1.1 - 2.3] famously includes these words:  "From the north the misfortune will break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land."

This is also the week of Parashat Pinchas, as well as the Fast of Shivah Asara b'Tammuz on Thursday [Yom Chamishi], culminating with America's 250 anniversary celebration, the 4th of July on Shabbat Kodesh!!

Speaking of Shabbat, the War on Torah is ongoing with more forced Shabbat desecration.  It never ceases, even for a day, and especially not for Shabbat. Furthermore, they care not that it is a northern city under missile and drone alerts...

Hundreds Rally in Tzfas to Protest Public Bus Service on Shabbos; Six Arrested

...Participants included observant Jews from across the spectrum of Torah-observant communities in Tzfas, who gathered to express their pain over the public operation of transportation on Shabbos and to call on the relevant authorities to halt the service.

Organizers said the protest remained orderly throughout. Demonstrators sang Shabbos songs and voiced their opposition peacefully, despite several attempts by individuals opposed to the demonstration to provoke confrontations.

...Following the demonstration, organizers issued a statement expressing satisfaction with the turnout.

“We are filled with satisfaction over the tremendous success of the gathering of such a large ציבור to cry out publicly before all that our holy Shabbos will not become trampled in the streets of the city, and over the kiddush Hashem that atones for the sin of chillul Hashem. Our intention is to continue these demonstrations and increase the number of participants as long as the transportation lines continue to operate.”

At the same time, local community activists have opened discussions with the relevant government officials in hopes of reaching an agreement that will end the ongoing Shabbos bus service in the city.

In advance of the protest, large notices posted throughout Tzfas called on residents from all of the city’s kehillos to participate in the demonstration.

In related news...

Government Secretary Pushes Bill to Freeze Arrests of Yeshivah Bochurim, Warns Israel Is ‘Approaching Civil War’

... Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs has urged Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Boaz Bismuth to fast-track emergency legislation that would suspend for three months the arrests and criminal proceedings against yeshivah bochurim and bnei Torah subject to military conscription. Fuchs warned that the ongoing arrests are deepening tensions with the chareidi community and could lead to an unprecedented national rift.

In a letter sent to Bismuth, Fuchs argued that arresting bnei yeshivah has failed to advance enlistment and is instead producing the opposite effect.

“These arrests of Torah learners do not advance enlistment among the chareidi public; rather, they distance enlistment, and there is a real concern of severing the bond with the chareidi public to the point, chalilah, of reaching a civil war, and this less than a week before the beginning of the Bein HaMetzarim period,” he wrote.

Fuchs said recent developments have shown growing unrest even among chareidi families whose sons already serve in chareidi military frameworks, including combat units and chareidi hesder yeshivos. According to him, many parents had previously accepted military service by some of their sons as long as other children were able to remain in yeshivah learning. Now, however, the prospect that full-time bnei Torah could be arrested at any moment has caused many of those same families to oppose additional enlistments.

In other news...