Yerushalayim Affairs and Jewish Heritage Minister Meir Porush delivered a fiery address in the Knesset on Wednesday, launching a blistering attack on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Israel’s High Court of Justice during debate over legislation redefining the powers of the attorney general. In an emotional speech, Porush accused the legal establishment of waging a campaign against Torah learners, likened its actions to those of Haman in the Purim story, and vowed that the Chareidi community would no longer submit to what it views as judicial persecution.
Taking the podium during the heated Knesset debate on the Attorney General Law, which addresses legal opinions, government representation, and oversight, Porush sharply criticized both the attorney general’s conduct and recent High Court rulings concerning the military draft of yeshiva bochurim and the funding of Torah institutions.
Addressing Baharav-Miara directly, Porush accused her of pushing the country toward an irreparable national divide through her legal policies on matters of religion and state.
Recalling the bill’s preliminary reading more than six months ago during the Purim season, Porush drew on imagery from Megillas Esther to compare the current political struggle to the biblical confrontation between Mordechai and Haman.
“You, Attorney General, are leading the country toward civil war,” he declared. “You are leading the nation toward an irreparable rift. When this bill passed its preliminary reading—the same bill we are debating today—during Purim more than half a year ago, I said: In Megillas Esther it is written, ‘If you have begun to fall before him, you shall surely fall,’ and I added, ‘Attorney Miara—you shall surely fall.’ Many members of this Knesset answered me then with ‘Amen,’ and today, together with the government, we are bringing that ‘Amen’ to fruition.”
Porush escalated his rhetoric by directly comparing the actions of the Attorney General’s Office and the High Court to those of Haman, accusing them of attempting to destroy the Torah world through legal rulings and financial sanctions.
“Just moments earlier in the Megillah it says, ‘If Mordechai is of the seed of the Jews…’ And today I stand here and say to everyone who thinks they can persecute Torah students—whether in the Attorney General’s Office or in the High Court—you, intoxicated by your own power, are behaving like Haman. Other than hanging Torah learners on the gallows, you have already done almost everything. But power does not last forever. ‘If Mordechai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the seed of the Jews, you will not prevail against him, but you shall surely fall before him,’” Porush proclaimed from the Knesset podium.
The minister went on to review Jewish history, arguing that every empire, ruler, and regime that sought to eradicate Torah and its students ultimately disappeared, while the Jewish people endured.
“Jewish history is filled with empires, rulers, tyrants, and officials consumed by delusions of grandeur who tried to uproot the Torah, restrict those who study it, and impose a foreign culture upon us. Where are they today? Buried beneath the dust of history. And where are we? Growing stronger! ‘The Eternity of Israel does not lie,’” he said to applause from members of his faction.
Concluding his speech, Porush declared that the Chareidi public would no longer bow to judicial decisions that, in its view, undermine the Torah world. He argued that the legislation represents the beginning of restoring authority from unelected legal officials to Israel’s elected representatives.
“The legal bureaucracy, sitting in its ivory tower, has become accustomed to believing it is the true ruler of the State—that it can issue decrees, freeze funding, turn kollel avreichim into criminals, and expect us to bow our heads. Those days are over. Today we are restoring authority to the people and to their elected representatives, and just as importantly, we are placing a bright stop sign in front of this anti-Jewish campaign of persecution,” Porush concluded.
{Matzav.com}