During his evening broadcast on Thursday, popular Israeli radio personality Yankele Friedman addressed the massive atzeres tefillah in Yerushalayim, attended by Gedolei Yisroel from across the spectrum in solidarity with lomdei Torah. While praising the unprecedented unity and kiddush Hashem the event created, Friedman sharply criticized the dangerous behavior of dozens of young men who scaled cranes, rooftops, and construction scaffolds during the gathering.
“I want to say a word about the disturbing scenes I witnessed at this rally,” Friedman began. “These are our own people — young bochurim and avreichim. I don’t know what they were thinking. They put their lives in real danger, climbing cranes that are dozens of meters high, walking on rooftops and scaffolding. It’s a miracle, baruch Hashem, that this didn’t end in a mass tragedy.”
Friedman continued with emotion: “What’s happening to us? What is this urge to climb up and risk your life? Do you know how much a crane operator is paid to work up there? It’s a very high salary because it’s dangerous work. Do you realize how much preparation he undergoes before climbing that crane?”
He urged the public not to ignore the problem or dismiss it as minor. “Please, don’t tell me, ‘Don’t air our dirty laundry.’ This is our laundry — and it’s dirty. But we have to talk about it. Every person must warn himself, parents must warn their children and educators. What’s going on here? We came to a rally for chizuk and hisorerus, and it turned into, chas v’shalom, a situation of sakanas nefashos. It’s truly shocking.”
{Matzav.com}As the massive atzeres tefillah today in Yerushalayim concluded, MK Meir Porush — one of the key organizers of the gathering — issued a sharp warning to the government, declaring that if the campaign against bnei Torah continues, the chareidi community will be forced to escalate its response.
In an interview with Avi Mimran on Mahadura Hamercazit, Porush opened with words of gratitude: “First and foremost, we must thank the public who responded to the call of the gedolei Yisroel and came to stand in support of lomdei Torah. It was a tremendous event, a true kiddush Hashem.”
Porush stressed that the enormous turnout was a clear message to those seeking to undermine the Torah world. “Those who are trying to harm us saw today a massive public standing against them — a public that will not allow anyone to harm lomdei Torah,” he said. “To harm lomdei Torah is to take on the tens of thousands who filled the streets of Yerushalayim this evening.”
Addressing the transportation issues that arose before the rally, Porush revealed that the challenges stemmed from last-minute changes by Israel Railways. “The announcement by the train company came as a complete surprise, contrary to everything that had been agreed upon,” he explained. “We held countless meetings with the authorities to arrange travel logistics for the atzeres. In the end, we managed to partially reverse the decision, and trains operated until 2:00 p.m.”
Porush concluded the interview with a warning to government officials: “Today’s rally came after red lines were crossed and lomdei Torah were kept under arrest for too long. If the persecution of lomdei Torah continues, we will have no choice but to take further action.”
{Matzav.com}Two political surveys released Thursday evening painted completely different pictures of Israel’s political landscape, sparking debate over which channel’s polling can be trusted.
According to a poll conducted by Mano Geva for Channel 12 News, if elections were held today, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s coalition would win just 51 Knesset seats—an outcome that would leave the right-wing bloc far from a governing majority. Channel 14’s right-leaning survey, however, told a very different story, giving the same coalition a commanding 66 seats.
The Channel 12 poll showed Likud with 26 mandates, Bennett’s party at 21, Yair Golan with 11, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid at 10, Shas and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu each at 9, Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit also at 9, Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar at 8, Yitzchok Goldknopf’s United Torah Judaism at 7, Hadash-Ta’al with 5, and Ra’am also with 5.
When grouped into blocs, the opposition received 59 seats, the Arab parties 10, and the coalition only 51—signaling, according to Channel 12’s framing, a serious decline for the right.
Channel 14’s poll, on the other hand, produced dramatically different numbers. It placed Likud far ahead with 35 seats, followed by Bennett’s party at 12, Shas at 11, the Democrats at 10, Yisrael Beytenu at 9, United Torah Judaism at 8, Otzma Yehudit at 7, Eisenkot’s Yashar party at 7, Yesh Atid at 6, Religious Zionism at 5, Ra’am at 5, and Hadash-Ta’al at 5. Both Blue and White (2.4%) and Balad (1.7%) failed to cross the electoral threshold.
In total, Channel 14’s results showed the right-wing bloc with 66 seats, the left-wing bloc with 44, and the Arab parties holding 10.
When asked who is most suited to serve as prime minister, the Channel 14 poll found 56% backing Netanyahu, compared to 22% for Naftali Bennett, 12% for Gadi Eisenkot, 5% for Yair Lapid, 4% for Avigdor Liberman, and just 1% for Benny Gantz.
The stark contrast between the two polls quickly reignited Israel’s ongoing debate over media bias—whether Channel 12 is amplifying perceptions of right-wing weakness or Channel 14 is overstating its strength. As one political commentator quipped online: “It depends which channel you trust—and which reality you choose to believe.”
{Matzav.com}
