UTJ Candidate Draws Outrage After Comparing Ultra-Orthodox Israelis' Situation to the Holocaust | Israel Politics Post
UTJ Candidate Draws Outrage After Comparing Ultra-Orthodox Israelis' Situation to the Holocaust
Eliakim Stark made the comparison while discussing draft-related travel restrictions on Haredi men. Politicians across the spectrum, including fellow coalition leaders, condemned the remark.
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By Israel Politics Post Staff·Published
United Torah Judaism candidate Eliakim Stark speaks at an election event in Beit Shemesh · Source: Screenshot/X/Avi Moskoff, via The Times of Israel
A United Torah Judaism election candidate drew widespread condemnation this week after comparing the situation facing Israel's ultra-Orthodox community to that of Jews during the Holocaust, The Times of Israel reported.
Eliakim Stark, sixth on UTJ's candidate list, made the remark at a campaign event in Beit Shemesh while discussing the difficulties Haredi men who have not completed military enlistment face in traveling abroad, including for matchmaking purposes. "When one wants to do a shidduch abroad, [the bride's family] needs to come to Israel because he can't [fly abroad]," Stark said, before adding, "I have no other definition. Our situation is close to what was in the Holocaust."
The comparison drew swift rebukes from across the political map. Ofer Winter, head of the People of Israel party, called it "a disgrace to any Israeli and any Jew," while opposition leader Yair Lapid countered that it is a strong, proud Jewish army, not draft evasion, that prevents future catastrophes for the Jewish people.
The episode came alongside separate friction inside the Haredi political world: UTJ and Shas leaders have voiced regret over their own support for Amir Ohana's appointment as Knesset speaker, with Shas's Yitzhak Pindrus calling that decision a "desecration of God's name."
