Yosef Hadad: I will be the first Israeli Arab in the cabinet!
Esser Agaroth (2¢):
Ofer Winter was one of the first IDF commanders to arrive at the Gaza border on his own, and to begin engaging the Hamas and civilian invaders on October 7, 2023. The completion of Ofer Winter’s service in the IDF in 2024, or rather his dismissal, did not make any sense.
His conclusion of service was criticized by several in the government. Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich said that he was the only one we know, who did not have anything to do with the failures pre-October 7, and that it should not be up to those, who did fail, to make such decisions.
Since then, Winter has been a critic of the government. Because this, in light of his heroism which preceded this, many have said we had better pay attention to this Jew, as a potential leader. Sure enough, he formed a political party, and is standing in the upcoming elections. Unfortunately for him, the current standing in the polls does not look good.
The number two on Winter’s party list is Arab Christian, social media influencer and IDF veteran, Yosef Hadad. Recently there has been an uproar over whether or not Hadad was in favor, or against, the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Well, I am here to tell you that his position on this matter is irrelevant.
Yet, it is unclear is Ofer Winter realizes the implications of adding a non-Jew to his party’s list of candidates. This is not the first time a non-Jew has been on a center right party’s list. Nor is it the first time in which a non-Jew has been present on a party’s list of candidates including religious (orthodox) Jews. Druze have served of Members of Knesset in the Likud and Israel Our Home Parties. However, this does seem to be the first time a non-Jew has been included on the list of a party headed by a religious Jew.
Either Ofer Winter believes there is no problem with this because or our current situation as a nation struggling with autonomy, or that there is no problem with this in any event. If it is the latter reason, is this because he taught to believe this by his notoriously mamlakhti (diehard state-loyalist) Yeshiva B’nei David? Was this an oversight on the yeshiva’s part? Was it irrelevant to the pre-IDF service curriculum?
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You shall surely set king over you, whom the Lord your God shall choose; one from among your brethren you shall set over you king; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. (Deut. 17:15)
A king should not be appointed from converts to Judaism. This applies even if the convert’s ancestors had been Jewish for many generations, unless his mother or father is a native-born Israelite, as Deuteronomy 17:15 states: “You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not one of your brother.”
This does not apply to the monarchy alone, but to all positions of authority within Israel. A convert may not serve as an army commander, a leader of fifty, or as a leader of ten. He may not even supervise the allocation of water from a stream to various fields. Needless to say, a judge or a nasi should only be a native-born Israelite, as it is stated (ibid.): “Appoint a king over you from among your brethren.” This implies that all appointments must only be “from your brethren.” (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and their Wars 1:5 [4])
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