Yitzhak Goldknopf, head of haredi UTJ party, says studying math hasn’t advanced Israel’s economy.
By: Itzik Brandwein
United Torah Judaism chief Yitzhak Goldknopf on Saturday night said that learning math has not advanced the country’s economy, drawing criticism from those on the center-left.
“They are withholding budgets from the haredi schools, because they do not learn math and English,” Goldknopf told Channel 12 News. “Why? ‘Because in another 20 years….’ I have been hearing that sentence for 20 years already – I have not seen that math advanced the State’s economy.”
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) responded, “Goldknopf, who said that the State of Israel belongs to two nations – the haredim and everyone else – is making light of the IDF soldiers’ service and eyeing the Finance Ministry so that he can provide funding to those who do not work and do not contribute, at the expense of the middle class, those who serve, work, and pay taxes.”
“This is the man who parties from all ends of the political spectrum are chasing after. Only a strong and large Yisrael Beytenu will ensure that Goldknopf and his friends remain in the opposition, and thus bring about the integration of the haredi sector into Israeli society and ensure equality in sharing the burden of the economy as well.”
Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli (Labor) responded, “More than Goldknopf is destroying the future of secular Israelis, he is destroying the future of the haredim. A society without the core curriculum is a society without a future, without hope, without a dream.”
“The haredi community deserves national haredi schools which will help them acquire the freedom to choose. This is our truth, and we are fighting for it.”
Last week, INN reported that disturbing footage of an elderly couple being thrown to the ground by a police riot-dispersal water cannon was published on the internet.
In the footage, which was posted to Twitter by the journalist Bar Shem Or, the couple is seen on the side of the road, at a noticeable distance from where the haredi Jerusalem Faction was protesting the arrest of a yeshiva student before Rosh Hashanah.
The water cannon, which was passing through the area on its way to disperse the demonstration, began spraying the couple who was standing on the side of the road. From the force of the stream that was shot in their direction, the elderly man and woman fell forcefully to the ground and were injured.
Bar Shem Or, who posted the footage to his Twitter account, wrote: “Disturbing Police brutality. An elderly haredi couple happened to find themselves in the area where the Jerusalem Faction was protesting at the entrance to Jerusalem on Thursday (busses were letting off passengers and you can see they weren’t participating in the demonstration). A water cannon sprayed water at the head of a woman, who is around 70 years old, from a distance of only a few meters and she fell and hurt her arm. It’s a shame and an embarrassment.”
Israel Police released a statement concerning the incident: “From the footage, it would appear that the use of the water cannon, in this case, calls for an in-depth investigation. The case will be reviewed and dealt with appropriately, and the procedure for the use of water cannons will be refined.
In September 29th, INN also reported that dozens of haredi demonstrators blocked an intersection on Jaffa street in Jerusalem in protest against the arrest of a man who is being charged with deserting the IDF by attempting to leave the country ahead of Rosh Hashanah.
