Enraged members of Israel's ultra-Orthodox communities are calling for Efraim Halevy to be indicted after the former Mossad chief said on Thursday that religious extremism poses a greater threat to the Jewish state than Iran's nuclear program. At a memorial on Thursday for fallen IDF soldiers, Halevy told attendees that the real danger to Israel's existence comes from within. "Extremism, the trend toward ultra-Orthodoxy and more stringent behavior, this is more of an existential danger to Israel than Ahmadinejad and Iran's nuclear program." Shas party leader Eli Yishai issued a caustic response, telling the website kikarhashabat.co.il, "It is outrageous that during the week marking the murder of Yitzhak Rabin, Halevy has still not learned the lesson of incitement." MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) went a step further and called for Halevy to be indicted for inciting against a sector of the Israeli public. "His remark was outrageous and particularly divisive during a week when some are saying that words can kill," Gafni said. Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) condemned Halevy, saying, "He said slanderous things that only embarrassed himself. It is scary that someone who once held such a senior position, with so much responsibility, would say things that can incite the public against an entire sector of the population." Minister of Housing and Construction Ariel Atias (Shas) joined in on the scathing verbal attacks, saying, "These were shocking and inciting words that can divide the people of Israel at a time when we actually need to unite. How does a Jew who ran the Mossad express himself in such an embarrassing, false, and antagonistic way against a sector within the population, a sector whose only sin is preserving the flame and heritage of the Jewish people, without forcing their way of life on anyone? How can he say that a section of the Jewish people that loves the nation and the land, is worse than Ahmadinejad, who wants to destroy us, regardless of whether we are religious, secular or ultra-Orthodox? Has he lost his mind-" Halevy, for his part, said in an interview on the Channel 2 program "Meet the Press," "If they want, they can take me to court. There is a procedure for that. I suppose I will be interrogated by the police. If they want to take me to court, they can do so. I hope that minister Atias and MK Gafni will direct their energies toward uniting our nation by helping hundreds of thousands of Israelis who seek proper personal status in the country [referring to whether or not they are legally Jewish according to the state]. They should focus on topics such as conversion and the status of women in the Israel Defense Forces - those are the things that divide us." At the memorial event, when Brig. Gen. (res.) Rabbi Avichai Rontzki, chief military rabbi from 2006 to 2010, asked Halevy to clarify his remarks, the former Mossad chief said he was raised "in the light of Judaism, in Bnei Akiva. I have known religion and faith among enlightened people. Ultra-Orthodox extremism is darkening our lives. In Bnei Akiva, we sang and danced together - boys and girls. Were we not religious? Were the rabbis of then infidels? Rabbi Goren knew about the mixed military musical groups. Did he ban them? What has happened to us? Didn't the previous generations observe the commandments properly? Was religion neglected? Our religion does not suffer these stringencies today." Commenting on the public debate surrounding a potential Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, Halevy told the audience that it is not logical for a country to claim it is facing an existential threat without having the means to defend itself. "It does not make sense. We do not have to talk about Iran in apocalyptic terms. I do not think anyone can destroy Israel. A person who leaves his job, no longer has a complete picture of the operative parameters and plans, and should therefore be cautious in what he says. We should be concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions, but there is a long way to go from that concern to an existential threat."
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