that this smart guy did not get the FM! That would have make a big difference. He should insist on getting it in case Libermann is not exonerated.

Lapid may have hinted he did not want them there but in many interviews he said he would sit with them in the same goverment assuming they would be willing to do what he wants.

there is no doubt that the haredim have been arrogant and shortsighted. however, depriving them of effordable housing will destitute them and cause social problems. lapid is as arrogant and uncompromising as the very people that he despises so much. it was the haredim who kept judaism alive for two thousand years. without them, there would be no jews left. lapid should have the humility to acknowledge this. they are also the one sector in society who have many children, thus keeping jewish demographics somewhat steady. the reform and the conservative intermarry.

The number of ministers was becoming absurd and a complete waste of money. Now, we just need secular marriage and haredim to share the burden (army and work) and Israeli will be much better off.

for two thousand years." I'm not too sure about that. What exactly is "Haredi"? Is a shtremelmacher from Mea Sheariim and a Shasnik from Morrocco who lives in Kiryat Malachi the same? Are the Neturei Karta, who HATE Irael, and the hilltop youth, who fight for their lands and religion against the arab intruders, the same harediim? One thing is certain, the Jews who built the modern state of Israel were certainly not haredi, they were socialist survivors of the Holocaust who didn't need to quote Torah or ask Gods permission if they needed to built a watchtower on Shabbat or defend their kibbutz from arab attackers on Yom Kippur.

nope, the Haredim hate everybody else, they hate themselves (Ashk against Sephardim, Breslav against Shemtov, Lithuanians against...). the days of leeching will be over soon (not yet, don't worry, you'll still milk the state for a while, taking money away from needed causes so you can sustain your corrupt and hateful system). Grow up, go to Army and WORK, instead of sending your women to work, they have no shame really. Nuff said.

there is no doubt that judaism was kept alive by those who kept the mitzvot. they did so through expulsions, pogroms, and all measures which deprived them of civil and political rights. secular jews did not appear on the scene in europe until emancipation movements in the late 19th century. the fact that the state was largely built by socialists from the russian empire does not in any way negate that it was the torah observing jews who continually lived in israel, including jerusalem, tzfat, the galil, throughout the centuries. the ottoman empire expelled 15,000 torah observent jews from jerusalem in the 16th century. yes, i repeat: there would be no jews today without those who were willing to sacrifice their lives and their futures to remain jews and to keep the commandments. secular jews need to keep this in mind and be grateful to them. the present hatred of the haredim is most unfortunate. the secular must recognise that they cannot change the haredim overnight. lapid is a nobody compared to the great talmud scholars. on the other hand, it is true that many among the haredim are neither scholars nor tzadikim, and their leadership must also compromise for the sake of am yisrael.

What is the difference if you are religious or secular? There are many religious people that work hard and many secular that are lazy and destructive. To brush all religious people as unemployed and lazy is such nonsense. So what is this madness? I do not understand this.

Go tell your spinster neighbor to join happy people and she will slam the door in your face. The same is with Haredim who won't listen to anyone who tells them to share the burden of living in Israel. Many people have written here that Haredim are not even Jews, so how do you know what credit they deserve for 2000 years? Hasidim invented themselves 250 years back, Haredim less than 100 years ago, so what is your taana about when you blame Lapid? Confront them somewhere and let's see if the door will stay open for more than a meaningful minute unless you stick your foot in it.

one thing to me: he has a big one.

you are an ignoramus. half my family are what you refer to as haredim. they are the nicest, most welcoming people i know. they just want to live a life of torah. you want to demonise them because they want to live a life of torah. it is no one's business that it is the wives who work rather than the men. the men help out with the children. you are a typical hater of the "other," as have been all antisemites throughout the ages. the haredim must be given the opportunity to practice judaism in accordance with torah law. lapid is a big zero who wants to be dictator of israel. he refuses to compromise. he has 19 knesset seats but behaves as if he had over 60 knesset seats. there is a minority among the haredim who are fanatics and refuse all compromise and want to turn israel into a haredi state. it is they who must be fought.

No,without them-without God,there would be no jews left!

Relax, nobody would slam a door in my face, not you and EVEN not a Haredi. There are too many people in Israel for a group that wants to be radically different. Sorry, Haredim cannot have their way exclusively. There isn't enough room for exploiters of the working rest of us. Maybe on an isolated island there would be room, but they wouldn't survive without working to eke out a living on an island. Lapid has no choice and cannot compromise because nobody can accommodate exploiters. This is the real world, not a hocus pocus island living in isolation.

the Jews. The haters of the religious Jews cannot kill them all since they are scattered over the face of the whole Earth.

If we can get past the knee jerk reaction that anyone who opposes the Haredi model in Israel is an anti-semite then perhaps we can move forward. Firstly they are entitled to their view that life should be spent studying the holy books, just as we secular people are entitled to beleive that life should notbe spent studying the holy books. Everyone is entitled to support themselves and adopt the lifestyle that they choose. The problem is that the Haredim expect the rest of us to support them - it is not the burden of the torah that is the problem, it is not the burden of taxation or army service that is the current problem - it is the burden of those who follow a life of Torah, which relies on the rest of us to support them, but which has grown so large as to be unsustainable. There is no hatred of the Hardim per se - but rather of the business model that they have adopted in Israel.

Judaism was for two-thousand years kept alive by Masorti, traditional ordinary Jewish families who passed the customs on from generation to generation in many communities spanning the world. From time to time a group splits from this mainstream, like the Haredim and Hassidic cults. While we still see them as Jewish they are from being the mainstream that kept Judaism alive for 5000 years.

whatever their name [Haredi,Masorti] who kept Judaism alive more than 3000 years.