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Shas newspaper: System can't stand successful Moroccans
Stiffened punishment for Benizri arouses resentment within Sephardic haredi community. 'Why is Olmert still free?' asks front-page article of Shas newspaper, which claims discrimination. Former MK Maya: We are still in exile. They are deathly afraid of us
"You cannot see successful people except yourselves. Haredim, Sephardic people, Moroccans, what have you burn your ego. You have a hard time with that," claimed the front page of Shas newspaper Yom l'Yom.
Within the haredi community, it is widely believed that the fact former minister Abraham Hirchson, who was convicted of embezzling millions of shekels, received a far lesser sentence than his haredi colleague for a more serious offense smacks of the discrimination that started with Arye Deri.
In the biting article, Rabbi Moshe Shapir attacked the legal system and the media in Israel, claiming that they operate on an ethnic, clan basis. "A comparison between the trial of Hirchson, who stole from taboo areas and the trial of the Shas minister who only failed to follow the draconian protocols left over from the Mandate period, does not indicate a great degree of sanity within the Israeli justice system," wrote Shapir, editor of the newspaper's Oneg Shabbat supplement.
'They like us small and harmless'
In a conversation with Ynet, a senior figure in the haredi media explained the sentiment in his community. "The feeling in the heart of the community is that the man barely made a mistake, even if there was some bribery here – and these were funds that went toward public initiatives."
According to him, when the public looks at similar instances from the past, the ethnic discrimination is obvious.
"I think it is obvious what happened here. Olmert is still walking free; (former president) Ezer Weizman was also helped out; and, what's happening with Benizri? Four years to a person with eight children? Apparently, he touched upon something, disturbed something, spoke too much. Just as they did to Deri, they're doing to Benizri. They like us small, useless, and harmless, as some kind of pets," Shapir explained public sentiment.
'We are still in exile'
Shapir is not the only one to be of this opinion. Rabbi Moshe Maya, a former Shas MK said to Ynet, "Our people were in exile for 2000 years. We grew accustomed to being in exile. The people of Israel in exile walked with their heads down. We are also holding our heads down in quiet in the meantime."
He also attacked the judge's decision against Benizri, "The court hears the testimony of one witness. According to Torah law, whoever hears the testimony of only one witness, it is as if he received a libelous testimony. We are also living in exile, exile among the Jews of small courts, that don't operate according to Torah, but according to British and Ottoman laws."
Kobi Nahshoni contributed to this report
