Well, the story starts (*) with this ad that appeared in papers last week:-
The ad, in support of Major-General Yair Naveh (who has
been problematic [in Hebrew] in the past), a graduate of Rabbi Aaron Binah's father's Yeshiva, the late Aryeh Binah,
made waves (in Hebrew). The Jerusalem Post today provides some background (
here).
The ad prompted these wall posters to go up and I photographed this outside Shiloh's Ramat Shmuel synagogue.
It appears that the funder for the first adulatory ad is
Ira Rennert who is a major contributer to the religious needs of the Yesha residents. This month, an
Aron Kodesh was installed in the Cave of the Patriarchs. Even Shiloh's
Mikveh is his donation.
Here he is with is wife:-
Rennert also manufatures
Humvees. Humvees are purchased by the IDF.
Some people don't like him.
Others, too.
Now, think this way: if Naveh eventually has to leave his position (one way of the other), wouldn't it be nice for him to know that his friend, Rabbi Binah, has a friend, Ira Rennert, who would possibly be able to provide him with future employment as a military expert and advisor? He would most probably make a lot of money acting as a go-between to the IDF and other armed forces whose officers have been trained by the IDF and even maybe by Naveh himself.
Everyone would like that. I would.
But the point is, if you knew that future employment was assured for yourself, and you were being pressured by the government of Israel to crack down on "extremists", even using questionable methods, and knowing that because of this future employment possibility you really didn't need to give a damn about criticism, demonstrations in front of your house and even legal actions, would you be infuenced to ignore any moral or ethical qualms you might have? I mean, after all, why care? Even
a "Sanhedrin" threat wouldn't bother you. The
government told you what to do, you don't like the "hilltop youth" in any case, you are praised by the media as standing up to "fanatics" and you still have a
prutah in your pocket at the end of the day.
Is this a possible "conflict-of-interest" case?
Is this a model of public ethics?
Is Rabbi Binah properly weighing Naveh's contributions to the defense of the country against the possible human rights' violations he is involved in?
Is Ira Rennert fully aware of the high controversy level of this matter? Was he informed as to the depth of the situation?
Are legal authorities in the IDF and the Attorney-General's office looking into this matter?
Are the media? (
here's a start - in Hebrew)
To be continued, I presume.
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(*) Credit to getting me started goes to
Esser Agaroth.
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