Yesterday the campaign broadcasts for the
Israeli elections started. Two weeks before the elections, each party gets air time
in accordance with its size to promote itself by showing what it will do,
attacking other parties, or telling personal stories about the party leader.
Some of the broadcasts are funny, some are annoying, some are...
Even though I already decided who I’m going
to vote for, I really like to watch these broadcasts and see the messages of
each party, so yesterday I was really excited that it started.
Most of the broadcasts were what I expected,
but one made me really angry – It was a Shas broadcast, showing a couple standing
under the chuppah. The bride is an Olah from Russia, while the groom is
an Israeli-born Jew (non-Russian). During the ceremony, the bride tells the
groom about the fax machine she received as a gift from “Beiteinu,” referring
to Avigdor Lieberman’s political party, Yisrael Beiteinu. When the groom is
confused about why they need a fax machine under their chuppah, she explains
that she can dial *conversion. When the groom is appalled that she’s not
Jewish, she gets a fax with a conversion certificate and says that now she is.
Then he refuses to kiss her because she is not Jewish.
Here it is (in Hebrew) -
Here it is (in Hebrew) -
Why was I so mad?
As a person I was mad about the racist way
that Shas is presenting the Olim from Russia and how the husband is disgusted
to discover that his wife is “not Jewish.”
As a Jew I was mad because Shas doesn’t
recognize non-orthodox conversions even though they are a very serious process.
As a Zionist I was mad because Olim
who came here as Jews according to the Law of Return are not recognized as Jews
in Israel, and cannot be married as Jews or even in a civil marriage, as there
is no legally-recognized civil marriage in Israel.
Shas does everything it can to prevent the
legislation of civil marriage in Israel and the recognition of non-Haredi
conversions.
How does this connect to the Labor party?
One of the things I really appreciate about
Shelly Yachimovich is that she is trying to promote politics that is not based
on hating other sectors of Israeli society and attacking them. I think many parties,
including Shas in this case, have much to learn from her.
Also, Knesset
member Nino Abesadze, who is running for the Labor Party, filed a petition with
the Elections Committee to disqualify the broadcast. Likewise, the Labor Facebook group 'Russian Street, corner of
Labor' started a petition against this broadcast: http://www.atzuma.co.il/antishas
If you want to read more about it, this is
a really interesting article:
-Naomi, an Israeli
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