United Torah Judaism chairman MK Yitzhak Goldknopf escalated his rhetoric Wednesday, saying 'the whole country is a blazing fire' and threatening that 'the day will come we turn the state around, but at a later stage.' He asked supporters 'do you think they will make us into slaves?' and called for nationwide protests, according to Israeli media.
MK Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of United Torah Judaism, escalated his rhetoric Wednesday afternoon, calling for nationwide mass protests as part of the ultra-Orthodox community's protest campaign. Speaking at an event, he described the country as a 'blazing fire,' threatened that 'the day will come we turn the state around, but at a later stage,' and asked supporters if they think 'they will make us into slaves.' The call for mass protests marks a new development in his remarks; his earlier statement Wednesday, reported by The Zioneer at 14:19 Jerusalem, had already warned that 'the whole country is a blazing fire' and threatened to 'turn the state around,' but did not include an explicit appeal for mass demonstrations.
According to The Zioneer's thread, Goldknopf's first public remarks (version 1, published at 14:19 Jerusalem) included the threat to 'turn prisons into yeshivas' and a call for nationwide protests, reported on Kol B'Ramah radio. A second version (same timestamp, 14:19 Jerusalem) condensed the threat to 'turn the state around' and was reported by Israel Hayom. The current reported speech adds the mass protest call explicitly, though the two earlier versions already contained similar protest appeals. Source corroboration began with one radio outlet (Kol B'Ramah) and was corroborated by Israel Hayom, both appearing at the same published time.
As The Zioneer noted in its earlier coverage, the remarks come amid an ongoing standoff between parts of the Haredi leadership and the government over coalition agreements and budgets. The precise context for the 'slaves' remark was not elaborated in the source material; it appears to reference what Goldknopf's supporters view as discriminatory or coercive state policy.
No immediate official response from the government or opposition was reported as of publication. The specific timing and location of the speech that included the mass protest call were not detailed in the sources.
4 developments
- DevelopingUTJ MK Meir Porush threatens to 'drive attorney general from office with sticks and stones'
- DevelopingGoldknopf delivers ultimatum to Shlomo Karhi: keep Shabbat and content filtering or lose coalition support
- StrongShas spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef calls attorney general 'garbage', says Trump shifted due to draft-dodger arrests
- DevelopingMK Goldknopf: Government is arresting draft evaders 'who have done no wrong'
Source and signal
- Internal intake