The Uplifting Yomim Tovim Have Passed
I can’t possibly report fully on everything that has happened in Israel since my last report; there is no point even in trying to draft a comprehensive overview. The miracle of the thwarted plane hijacking alone could provide enough material for an entire newspaper, not just a single column. There is so much to report about what happened on the flight, about the terrorist’s nefarious intentions, and about the series of miracles that prevented a disaster—not to mention the many questions that arose in the wake of the incident. I could also easily write at great length about the political world getting into high gear as the election draws closer. And there were plenty of events on Chol Hamoed that deserve to be covered as well.
Sadly, as soon as Isru Chag arrives, we feel ourselves descending from the sublime world of the Yomim Tovim to the mundanities of our everyday existence. Every year, there is much focus on how to preserve the elevation we experienced during the Yomim Tovim. As I write these lines, it is less than 24 hours after we danced with the Torah on the last day of Yom Tov, feeling almost as if we were raised to the level of malochim. It is hard to return to our daily routines in the wake of those experiences. I find myself envying the Americans in Eretz Yisroel (and in America as well, of course), who are still celebrating Yom Tov Sheini at this time. They, at least, have another day to celebrate with the Torah and bask in its embrace.
Should I report to you about the major events held in the sukkos of American philanthropists here in Eretz Yisroel? I can’t imagine that it’s the most important topic to discuss, even though there were some very interesting events in large sukkos in Rechaviah, Shaarei Chesed, and near the Kosel.
I enjoyed attending the simchas beis hashoevah at Yeshivas Shaarei Shemuos on Moshav Bais Chilkiya. The yeshiva itself is a miraculous story. It was opened 15 years ago in a small shul in Kiryat Sefer, but it quickly blossomed into one of the leading yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel; today, it has a student body of almost 1000 bochurim. I have maintained a connection to the yeshiva since it was first established; after all, it is practically a branch of the Yeshiva of Beer Yaakov. The rosh yeshiva, Rav Aryeh Shapiro, is a renowned grandson of the illustrious rosh yeshiva of Beer Yaakov, Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro.
I attended an event at the Yerushalayim home of Sander Gerber, where I met Malcolm Hoenlein, Yitzchok Pindrus, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and MK Simcha Rothman at the event, along with many others who enjoyed the experience as well.
Shiurim on Chol Hamoed
I also attended various shiurim that I attended during Chol Hamoed. While I went to only one shiur a day, I prepared a list in advance of two or three shiurim each day that seemed the most appealing to me, out of the many that were announced in a veritable deluge of advertisements. One notable example was a shiur delivered by Rav Yisroel Bunim Schreiber. You may recall that I wrote about a shmuess delivered by Rav Schreiber even before I interviewed him for the Sukkos edition of this newspaper, but I decided that I also needed to attend a shiur so that I would have a firsthand encounter with the brilliance that has made him so renowned. Sure enough, I was amazed. His presentation of his opening question and the development of his thesis were both ingenious. One of the attendees tried to quote a Gemara that seemed to contradict Rav Bunim’s position, and Rav Bunim cut him off by exclaiming, “That Gemara doesn’t exist!” The questioner tried to press his point, but Rav Bunim repeated firmly, “I am telling you that there is no such Gemara in the entire Talmud Bavli. Perhaps it is in the Yerushalmi; I do not have full knowledge of it.” Of course, the shiur ended with another brilliant explanation that shed new light on the entire topic.
Another shiur that I attended was delivered by someone whom I had never heard of. The advertisements referred to him as Rav Chaim Meir of Dzhikov, and I discovered that he was a talmid of Rav Avrohom Genechovsky, who was known as a world-class Torah genius. Rav Chaim Meir founded a community or chassidus of some kind in Givat Zeev about 15 years ago. Five years later, after the passing of his father—Rav Yechezkel of Dzhikokv, a great-grandson of the Ahavas Yisroel of Vizhnitz—Rav Chaim Meir took his place as the Rebbe of Dzhikov. Today, he lives in Givat Zeev and heads a bais din for monetary cases, as well as serving as the rov of a shul known as Ateres Yeshuah and a community known as Ayelet Hashachar. In addition, he is an author of seforim. My son attended a shiur he delivered last Sunday at Shaarei Tevunah, a large shul in the neighborhood of Ramot, and urged me to attend a shiur as well. A little research led me to discover that he was scheduled to speak on the following day in Neve Yaakov, and I made sure to be present. Needless to say, I enjoyed every minute of the shiur.
Some of the other shiurim were delivered by rabbonim whom I had heard in the past, but there was one other speaker whom I heard for the first time: Rav Yishai Toledano. But this wasn’t my first encounter with him. On the contrary, we grew up together; Rav Yishai is several years younger than I am and is the son of Rav Nissim Toledano, who was the rosh yeshiva of Sheeris Yosef in Beer Yaakov and a close friend of my father, who served as rov of the community. I knew that Rav Yishai had become a marbitz Torah and a distinguished rosh yeshiva in Yerushalayim, and I had been told that he was as brilliant as his father. This Chol Hamoed, I decided to attend his shiur in Ramot. Sure enough, I found out that the resemblance between Rav Yishai and his father was astounding, and the style and delivery of his shiur were reminiscent of his late father’s oratory as well.
These were some of the highlights of my experiences on Chol Hamoed, but it is not a comprehensive overview of the events of this holiday by any means. The Kosel Hamaaravi received large crowds of visitors, and the sukkos that appeared in yards and on balconies across the country, as usual, were the barometer of the level of feeling for Yiddishkeit among the people of Israel. There were also many events attended by the gedolei Yisroel. Nevertheless, we must put these topics aside and move on to other issues.
The Miracle of the Plane That Didn’t Crash
On Chol Hamoed, we experienced a miracle—or, better yet, a series of miraculous events, as you heard and read in a different section of this newspaper. The story of the aborted hijacking of the Flydubai flight to Israel has rightfully garnered international attention. Even President Trump posted a video praising the heroes who banded together to save all 174 passengers on the flight, including 27 children, from certain death. Every passenger on that flight attested that they stared death in the eyes in the most literal sense: They were able to look out the windows and watch helplessly as the plane raced toward the ground. And almost all of them acknowledged that their salvation came from Hashem. It was an inescapable conclusion; in this case, there were no Mossad agents or air force pilots to take credit for averting the disaster. One woman on the flight declared, “I don’t believe in anything, but I spoke to the Creator today, and I begged Him to keep me and my children alive.”
Flydubai flight FZ 1073 to Israel on Wednesday morning ended with an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after one of the pilots attempted to hijack and crash the plane. The copilot, from Oman, was the attempted hijacker, and the captain, from the United Arab Emirates, managed to open the door to the cockpit despite his injuries, which made it possible for several passengers to enter the cockpit and overpower the copilot. The flight took off from Dubai at 6:05, and it began losing altitude sharply at 8:21, dropping over 14,000 feet in less than half a minute. At 8:31, the plane broadcast a general distress call. Seven minutes later, it transmitted code 7500, which indicates a suspected hijacking.
When the signals were received, two air force jets were scrambled to intercept the plane and urgent situation assessments were held by security officials. At 9:20, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisroel Katz held an urgent security meeting. At 9:45, the plane landed in Saudi Arabia, and it very quickly came to light that the incident was more than a mere hijacking; it was an attempt to murder all the passengers on the plane. Two days later, the copilot revealed under interrogation that his original intent had been to crash the plane somewhere in Israel, perhaps even deliberately targeting a tower in Tel Aviv.
In the aftermath of the aborted catastrophe, many tough questions are being asked, especially how a pilot with ties to terror organizations and a known interest in their activities managed to be given responsibility for a flight landing in Israel. The time has come to investigate which authorities should have prevented his presence on the plane and why they failed to achieve that.
Was Netanyahu Warned Before the October 7 Massacre?
Another story that cannot be ignored is the plethora of recent claims that Prime Minister Netanyahu was warned very specifically before October 7 about Hamas’s plans to carry out a murderous onslaught. This week marks the secular anniversary of the horrific massacre, and the latest claims have become the talk of the country, especially with an election looming in the near future. According to reports in America, which were publicized in Israel as well, Netanyahu received a series of warnings and alarming messages during the weeks before the October 7 massacre: The head of Egyptian intelligence supposedly made a brief, clandestine visit to Israel, and Cairo continued transmitting messages until two days before the attack. According to the New York Times, Netanyahu also received a personal warning from Mohammed bin Zayed, president of the United Arab Emirates, that Hamas was considering a large-scale attack. Netanyahu, for his part, vehemently denies having received such a warning. And there is one very significant detail of all these claims: Even if it is true that the prime minister was warned, there is no indication in any of the reports that he was notified about the date of the planned massacre or its target, or that he received any detailed information at all about the broad invasion carried out by Hamas.
According to an investigative report that appeared in the Atlantic, based on interviews with dozens of sources, a rented Cessna plane associated with Egyptian intelligence landed in Ben-Gurion Airport on the afternoon of September 26, 2023, exactly 11 days before the massacre. The plane was directed to an isolated area of the airport that sometimes serves as a venue for sensitive diplomatic or security meetings. The plane was carrying Abbas Kamel, then the head of Egyptian intelligence and a close associate of Egyptian president a-Sisi. It remained in Israel for only 67 minutes before taking off for its return flight to Cairo. According to the Atlantic, the flight was logged in the Airport Authority’s official records and was verified by independent flight tracking systems as well. Nothing has been revealed about who met with Kamel during those 67 minutes; however, it is claimed that the purpose of his visit was to convey an urgent message that Hamas appeared to be preparing for a massive attack and the window of opportunity for preventing a calamity was steadily closing. The report adds that Kamel advised Israel to provide economic relief for Gaza in a bid to prevent conflict. This report, too, indicates that the warning did not provide any concrete information about the massacre that would take place on October 7.
Naturally, these reports have generated many headlines in Israel. Netanyahu completely denies having received any warnings from anyone; he has even filed libel suits against Israeli reporters who presented the claims as verified facts. In fact, even according to the New York Times, five former senior officials in Israel have attested that the warnings were not relayed to the heads of the security services. The newspaper also reported that it had received the protocols of a security discussion held by Netanyahu on October 1, six days before the massacre, and that there was no mention of a warning from the president of the UAE.
Netanyahu’s Secret Visit to the UAE
Mohammed bin Zayed has perhaps become one of the people most capable of influencing the Israeli election. If it is true that he warned Netanyahu in advance of the October 7 massacre and that the Israeli premier did nothing with the information, it would constitute an unforgivable offense on Netanyahu’s part. But if he did not convey the warning, then the accusations against Netanyahu are nothing less than a vicious libel. What, then, is the truth? Did the UAE president warn Netanyahu before October 7, or didn’t he? For now, bin Zayed refuses to answer the question.
In the interim, it has been revealed that Prime Minister Netanyahu recently left Israel for several hours for a secret visit to the UAE, where he met with President bin Zayed. The meeting was supposed to remain under the radar, while Israel planned to issue a joint statement with the UAE only after the delegation returned; however, a media outlet learned of the prime minister’s trip and publicized it prematurely. They were within their rights to report on the meeting before the official statement; however, the story was released while the prime minister and his companions were still on their return flight, and that is much less tolerable. In addition to Netanyahu, the meeting was attended by Mossad director Roman Goffman and National Security Council director Shmuel Ben-Ezra, as well as a senior figure in the Shin Bet’s Personal Security Division and other high-ranking officials in the Prime Minister’s Office. Netanyahu traveled to Abu Dhabi in a private plane that was previously used by high-ranking Mossad officials and by the prime minister himself on other trips to the United Arab Emirates. The meeting with bin Zayed was scheduled in recent weeks and was intended to take place under cover of secrecy until the Israeli delegation was ready to return to Israel; the two countries planned to issue a joint statement only after their return.
What did Netanyahu and the other participants discuss during their meeting? No one knows. However, it is known that the meeting included leaders of numerous Arab states. Rumor has it that Netanyahu took advantage of the occasion to pressure bin Zayed to publicly deny the allegations that he had warned the Israeli premier before October 7 about Hamas’s plans.
Nevertheless, the news of the meeting may actually be eclipsed in its importance by the fact that an Israeli television station reported it while Netanyahu was still in transit back to Israel. This created a genuine, serious danger to Netanyahu and his men—a threat that can only be considered even more severe in light of the attempted hijacking of a commercial flight from Dubai.
Former Fire Service Volunteer Plots Terror Attack
There were some other security incidents that must be mentioned here as well. First, the IDF and Shin Bet announced over Sukkos that they had eliminated the terrorist who was filmed during the Simchas Torah massacre abducting Noa Argamani and Avinatan Ohr from the Nova festival. According to the report, “The IDF and Shin Bet, together with the Gideonim unit, launched an aerial attack on the Nuseirat area yesterday and eliminated terrorist Sahar Nadal Lutfi Saqar, who drove the motorcycle used to abduct Noa Argamani and Avinatan Ohr to Gaza from the Nova festival. Aside from his direct involvement in the kidnapping, Saqar was affiliated with global jihadist organizations operating within the Gaza Strip and supplied weapons to Hamas during the war. In recent times, he collaborated with the military wings of both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to plan attacks against Israeli troops and civilians, in direct violation of the ceasefire agreement. He was eliminated to remove the threat that he had become.”
This is the latest in a series of targeted eliminations carried out by Israel in Gaza and in Lebanon. The goal of the operations in Gaza is to ensure that no commander in service of Hamas remains alive and to kill everyone who was involved in the October 7 massacre. In Lebanon, the purpose is to eliminate the entire command hierarchy of Hezbollah. Over Yom Tov, attempts were made to eliminate a terrorist who is considered the direct successor of Nasrallah. It is unclear if the attack was successful.
In other news, a resident of the Old City of Yerushalayim was arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a sukkah in the area of Rechov Agrippas in the center of the city. Investigators from the Lev Habirah police station launched a focused investigation after suspicions arose that the fire in the sukkah had been deliberately set. The suspect was transferred to the police station on suspicion of arson with a racist motive.
Finally, a 19-year-old resident of Kfar Kassem, who served as a volunteer firefighter during his period of national service, was recently arrested for allegedly plotting a terror attack targeting an Amdocs server farm in the center of the country. This report is quite alarming: The Arab suspect was a volunteer at a fire station, and while he was only a member of the support staff and not an actual firefighter, he managed to pass all the required security checks to obtain the position and served for about a year in the context of national service. This revelation comes alongside mounting fears over the large number of Arabs serving on the staffs of hospitals and medical clinics throughout Israel. One must wonder if we are looking at a ticking time bomb.
Right and Left Evenly Balanced in Polls
The election campaign is in its final stretch. The floor of the Knesset building where I work is also occupied by the Central Elections Committee, and they have mounted a large countdown clock on the wall. At the time of this writing, it shows another 22 days remaining until the election.
The most important question that will be decided by the election, of course, is the balance between the two blocs. There is the bloc of Netanyahu’s supporters, which some describe as the right-wing bloc, and then there is the center-left bloc, which is known by some as the bloc of repair or change. From our standpoint, however, it is the bloc of hatred for the Torah. Every single member of that group has been talking ceaselessly about their intent to impose severe penalties and other sanctions on anyone who doesn’t join the army; they are promoting punitive measures that no one ever dreamed of introducing in the past. Lieberman is even talking about stripping draft evaders of their drivers’ licenses and the right to vote for the Knesset. It is very sad to hear the rhetoric emerging from that side of the political map.
Not long ago, there was a meeting of the leaders of the bloc: Eizenkot, Bennett, Lapid, Yair Golan, and Avigdor Lieberman. (They do not consider Benny Gantz to be relevant at all; after all, the polls indicate that he will not cross the electoral threshold.) It seems that the glue that holds these politicians together is their shared hatred for chareidim and Netanyahu. There is no other conceivable force that could unify them. During that meeting, they agreed to avoid making problematic statements that might alienate right-wing voters (who do not wish to vote for Netanyahu). Nevertheless, Yair Golan, chairman of the Democrats party and a master of unwise statements, was apparently unable to hold himself back. Several hours after the meeting, he announced that the Arab parties would be worthy political partners and that he would consider forming a government with them. This angered Lieberman, who announced that he would not support a government that includes Arabs. The Likud party seized the conflict within the left-wing bloc as an opportunity to warn the public that the left would certainly establish a government relying on the Arab parties, which would be extremely dangerous. As an example, they pointed to the Bennett-Lapid government, which was blocked from carrying out certain important measures by Mansour Abbas, who was a partner in the government. Gadi Eizenkot, who is eager to portray himself as a friend of the right, also quickly denied the rumors: “Since they do not accept the three basic rules, including recognizing Hamas as a terror organization that must be destroyed, they will not be part of the next government,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, according to most of the polls, the blocs are evenly balanced. Neither of the two blocs seems to be independently capable of garnering the 61 mandates required to form a government. That seems to give the upper hand to the so-called change bloc, since they have the apparent option of partnering with the Arabs. On the other hand, Lieberman, who is a member of that bloc, has gone on the record asserting that he will never cross that line. At the same time, in a deadlock where neither side can reach 61 mandates on their own, Netanyahu might reach some sort of agreement with Eizenkot (or even Bennett and Lapid) to form a national unity government of sorts; the chareidim would undoubtedly be the victims of such an arrangement.
I should also note that some polls indicate that the right-wing bloc will defeat the left-wing bloc, and we have learned from previous election cycles that the polls are often misleading.
There is much room for commentary on events within the right-wing bloc as well. One thing bears mentioning: Ofer Winter is currently the greatest headache for the chareidim. While he seems likely to cross the electoral threshold and even to help boost the right-wing bloc to 61 mandates or more, his public statements about drafting chareidim are extremely concerning—and very different from the tone he adopted when he was in the army. His presence is probably good for Netanyahu, since he attracts right-wing voters who are not interested in voting for Netanyahu. However, there is another side of the coin, which makes him pose a significant threat: If he fails to cross the threshold, he will cost the bloc two or three mandates, which might be just enough to tilt the scales in favor of the opposition. As I’ve mentioned in the past, this would be an echo of a disastrous election earlier in Israeli history, when the Techiya party failed to cross the threshold and caused the left-wing Rabin government to come to power, bringing about the Oslo Accords. This has left the Likud with a serious dilemma whether to support Winter or to fight against him.
Europe and the Netherlands Against the State of Israel
Meanwhile, we are dealing with hostility from Europe. It is somewhat hard to understand this antipathy, since Islam is rapidly spreading across Europe and creating hardships for them, but it seems that their hatred for the Jews or Israel has made them oblivious to their own suffering. The most extreme anti-Israel stance of late has been adopted by the Dutch government, which imposed an extreme ban on all products and economic activities associated with Yehuda, Shomron, East Yerushalayim, and the Golan Heights. The latest edict of the Dutch government is a sweeping ban on the import, purchase, or sale of any goods produced in those areas. The Netherlands has prohibited even carrying such products in one’s personal luggage; just before Yom Tov, Dutch authorities were conducting intensive searches of the luggage of Israeli passengers arriving in their airports, with the goal of locating any such contraband. Even Dutch citizens are banned from carrying these forbidden products in their personal luggage. And the penalty for violations of the law is exceedingly draconian: Instead of a mere administrative offense, it is treated as a serious criminal act punishable by up to six years in prison and heavy fines.
Israel’s reaction to the Dutch decree was extreme. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar canceled the diplomatic passports of several citizens of the Netherlands who were visiting Yehuda and Shomron to monitor Israel’s “cruelty” to the Palestinian populace. At the same time, the king of the Netherlands visited the historic “Beth Jehoeda” shul in the Hague as a gesture to the Jewish citizens of the Netherlands. While the visit was ostensibly meant as a protest against anti-Semitism, it might have conveyed an unintended message against the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Dutch government as well.
Rav Dovid Batzri, Rosh Yeshivas Hashalom
This column would not be complete without mention of the passing of the renowned mekubal Rav Dovid Batzri, a beloved and revered figure and senior mekubal who headed Yeshivas Hashalom in Yerushalayim, a yeshiva for the study of Kabbolah. Rav Batzri passed away on erev Sukkos at the age of 85 in Bnei Brak, where he moved in recent years to live near his son as he grew weak and frail. Rav Batzri was born in Yerushalayim in the month of Av 5701 and was a scion of the magnificent dynasty of chachamim of Iraq. His mother was a great-granddaughter of Rav Yosef Chaim, the author of the Ben Ish Chai, and of Rav Yehuda Petaya, an illustrious mekubal. His three brothers were prominent figures as well: Rav Ezra Batzri was a former member of the Bais Din Hagadol, Rav Sasson Batzri was a dayan on the Ahavas Shalom bais din, and Rav Menachem Batzri was the menahel of Sukkas Dovid Institutes. His brothers-in-law were Rav Benzion Mutzafi and the late Rav Yehuda Mutzafi.
As a bochur, Rav Batzri learned in Yeshivas Porat Yosef in the Old City of Yerushalayim, under the tutelage of Rav Ezra Attiya. Acquiring a reputation for his exceptional hasmodah and tzidkus, he learned under the greatest talmidei chochomim of Yerushalayim, chief among them Rav Ovadiah Yosef. His wife, Rebbetzin Tzipporah Batzri, was the daughter of the mekubal Rav Salman Mutzafi. After his marriage, Rav Batzri founded Yeshivas Hashalom in the neighborhood of Mekor Boruch in Yerushalayim. The yeshiva was named for the mekubal Rav Shalom Sharabi, otherwise known as the Rashash, and quickly became a bastion of the study of Kabbolah. In the yeshiva, Rav Dovid Batzri instituted the study of the kavanos of davening according to the siddur of the Rashash and conducted special tikkunim for all sorts of needs: There were tikkunim for teshuvah or kareis, pidyon nefesh, and special procedures for salvation for married couples, healing, parnossah, and shalom bayis. Thousands of Jews from across the country and throughout the world streamed to his doorstep to receive his brachos and to participate in the tikkunim, which he conducted while shedding copious tears, as well as to receive his advice. Rav Batzri’s efforts often resulted in miraculous resolutions to the problems that were brought to his attention.
In addition to running the yeshiva, Rav Batzri was an outstanding orator who made the rounds of the cities of Israel and encouraged his audiences to strengthen their commitment to Shabbos observance, taharas hamishpocha, tznius, and fear of Heaven. He was especially known for his relentless efforts to uphold the sanctity of Yerushalayim and to stand guard against breaches of the standards of Yiddishkeit. With his passing, the Torah world has lost a spiritual giant who was a throwback to earlier generations and who tapped into the Torah’s mystical secrets and often brought about miracles. He was survived by a large, illustrious family that is carrying on his spiritual legacy. The levayah, which was held on erev Yom Tov, was attended by a huge crowd, including the leading rabbonim of the Sephardic community.