Clearing the Air

“Israel without Judaism and without the chareidim is like a body without a soul. Like an army that has only weapons, but no soldiers. Like a national flag that’s all white,” Shai Golden, television commentator for Israel’s Channel 14, declared last week in an attack on former public security minister and Angel Bakeries chairman Omer Bar Lev, for participating in an anti-chareidi protest outside the home of Ponevezh Rosh Yeshivah Rav Gershon Edelstein.

“Because,” he continued, “if you don’t understand that a straight line runs between the Star of David symbol on our national flag, and our Jewish heritage and Jewish identity, and from there to the chareidim and the yeshivah students and Rav Edelstein, then you don’t understand what Israel is, and you don’t even understand the symbolism of the blue and white flag that you and your friends have taken to wrapping yourselves in with such a sense of ownership.”

A few years ago, no one would have imagined a leading Israeli TV channel broadcasting such a segment – statements like that, if spoken, would be self-censored. But now there’s Channel 14, a relatively new station with a clear right-wing orientation. Originally launched a decade ago as Channel 20, a heritage channel that was not allowed to report the news, with more media privatization it eventually received a news license, and two years ago it was rebranded as “Achshav Arba Esreh” (“Now 14”), with its ratings climbing steadily ever since.

The channel’s Shai Golden is the face of a growing stream of secular rightists who acknowledge the importance of the chareidi community to the State of Israel, and though they lack an appreciation of Torah’s true value as the revealed word of Hashem, they prefer to align with tradition instead of vilifying it. Longtime Likud MK Dudi Amsalem, for example, is known as a stalwart champion of chareidi interests, defending their adherence to tradition, and helping advance draft deferment bills for yeshivah students. He has also fought attempts by progressive heterodox movements to encroach on Israeli religious life.