Haredi Israelis oppose attack on Iran without full US cooperation

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
18 Apr 2024 21:13
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Top rabbis representing the ultra-Orthodox Israelis convey to Netanyahu their objection to an attack on Iran and urge him to listen to the "entity's friends".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2R) chairs a Cabinet meeting at the "Kirya", which houses the Israeli Ministry of Security, in "Tel Aviv", on December 17, 2023 (AFP)

While the war cabinet remains divided on options for responding to the unprecedented Iranian military retaliation for the consulate's aggression, the Israeli public is showing a clear division on the action, with an increasing count of voices opposing an attack that could pose a danger to the occupation entity.

Moshe Gafni, Knesset member and leader of the Degel Hatorah party - an Ashkenazi Haredi political party - spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and expressed his opposition to launching an independent attack on Iran without full cooperation with the United States.

Israeli media reported that this conversation took place after Rabbi Dov Landa, a member of the directorate of the Board of Yeshivas, expressed his opposition for the same reason.

According to Gafni, the ultra-Orthodox Haredis are mobilizing to oppose an attack on Iran.

Israeli Kan news channel reported that Rabbi Aryeh Deri, leader of the Shas Haredi party and war cabinet member, publicly opposed an immediate military response inside Iran at the request of senior rabbis.

Deri emphasized the need to listen to the West and to restrain from responding to the Iranian retaliation, saying, "We must listen to our friends," referring to the dialogue with the United States.

Kan pointed out that Deri violated the commitments that bind members of the war cabinet not to express the positions they adopt during the council's closed discussions.

In an interview for a Shas-affiliated newspaper, he expressed his opposition to launching an "immediate" military action targeting Iranian soil. He said that his objections came after consultations with senior rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox movement to which his party belongs.

Deri stressed that the rabbis told him that launching a military operation against Iran "would pose a danger to Israel," emphasizing the importance of considering "Israel's" positions of its allies in the United States and the West, which reject launching a large-scale military operation against the Islamic Republic.

The head of Shas added that the rabbis he consulted with told him, "We need to know how to restrain ourselves, and be patient, and listen to our partners, and not do things just for the sake of revenge and showing that we have acted."

In a poll published by the Financial Times on Wednesday, the majority of Israelis (52%) believe that an immediate response to Iran's retaliatory strike is not desired, but rather prefer "to end the current round of hostilities."

"Everyone is on board with the [Gaza war] goals. But we see a very different path here" with Iran, Nimrod Zeldin, who conducted the study, told FT. "Iran is more complicated."

According to the survey, the clear-cut split is reflected in the "tortuous" debate within the war cabinet led by Prime Minister Netanyahu. Experts argue that the window for an immediate response is closing further as time passes.

This lack of a "clear signal" from the war cabinet has left the public "in limbo," with daily life returning to "an uneasy semblance of wartime normalcy."

For instance, just two days after the Iranian response, tens of thousands of people attended an open-air concert in "Tel Aviv" on Tuesday. But the army warned that restrictions can be reimposed swiftly if the regime decides that the time has come to initiate a response.

Iran's overnight attack on Sunday was conducted in response to "Israel's" recent aggression on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. The attack involved drones, cruise missiles, and surface-to-surface missiles launched from Iran. The strikes that were intercepted came in joint collaboration between US, French, UK, and Jordanian forces.