Rafi Reshef: Shari Roth, an identified journalist, this is what she has to say after the passage of the law freezing the detention of 'defectors'...
(The video is shown - "I just came out of a plenary debate, a heated debate, the Knesset members of Shas and United Torah Judaism gave full disclosure about having deserter children-grandchildren, so here I am, the journalist Shari Roth, wanting to give full disclosure: I have a deserter child, a soldier, in the army of God, in the army of Torah students in the yeshiva, I am proud of that, I think he is doing an important and enormous service to the Jewish state").
Reshef: Why was it important for you to bring this up?
Sherry Roth: I'll give you the moment. I was in the press box, and after talking all morning with the Haredi politicians, 'What are you going to do? Should we come up one by one and announce?' In the end, they decided to do it in a letter. I had the feeling that they wanted to embarrass them, and as if, I say to myself, why embarrass them? After all, they were sent to the Knesset, not in the primaries, but the rabbis sent them. So what, does anyone expect them to disobey the rabbis?
Reshef: Wait, tell us a moment about the son, how old is he?
Sherry: I'd rather not... without personal details.
Reshef: What do you mean? You already said that, the most...
Shari: Yes, I'm not hiding behind the fact that I have a son, I'm not hiding behind that. I just want to say that the rabbis said at this stage not to cooperate with the military authorities, it's very possible that at this stage of his life he would have already gone out to work and do civilian service. But then came the rabbis' stop saying: 'Nobody cooperates with the military authorities.'.
Reshef: Sherry, let me linger after all. Why are you afraid to share? You said, 'I'm proud.'.
Sherry: Because I need his permission for this. And I made this video too...
Reshef: And for this I received permission from him?
Sherry: The truth is, no.
Reshef: And did he like it or not?
Sherry: I don't know if he didn't like it, but I want to go back for a moment...
Reshef: No, leave it for now, I actually want to get down to your son, we did the principles last week...
Sherry: Wait, wait. I left the gallery, made the video, came back... and I'll tell you something, I have criticism of the Haredi Knesset members...
Reshef: Okay, I understand. You are the proud mother of a yeshiva student who has at least a significant role in the country like a soldier?
Shari: I'll tell you. I'm one of the liberals who say that anyone who doesn't study Torah should enlist, or anyone who goes out to work. I'm against those who work illegally and in factories, and I'm in favor of 'you go out to work, do civil service, national service, I don't know what else.' Of course, the army also needs to create appropriate frameworks, and it's trying to do that today with the Hasmoneans.
Reshef: Did you refer to the equation 'combat soldier versus yeshiva student'?
Sherry: I'm the most liberal and I'm not from the extremist faction. My children went to the military every year legally and postponed their service for a year, one year! Legally! And then one bright day the state came and said...no, there's no law...
Reshef: Sherry, I answered a little bit to Macro. What is your son's role compared to a combat soldier in defending the country?
Shari: First of all, not all of the army is combat soldiers. There is a percentage, I haven't been able to do that to this day, up until this moment, they don't want to talk about it, what percentage of combat soldiers are there in the army?
Reshef: Sherry, but the question is very simple and closed.
Sherry: My son is not a Krabi member, I admit, but he's in the 70s, 80s, you know what? 50 percent, who don't do Krabi? Who spread sandwiches in the Kirya, does he belong to, let's say, that group?
Reshef: Who?
Sherry: There is a group in the IDF that is for jobbers...
Reshef: But I asked you, we have a somewhat strange dialogue. Yes. I ask: Your son's role in defending the country, in relation to a combat soldier, I didn't say that they are all combat soldiers.
Shari: I believe in my faith, and like me, a million people in the State of Israel believe that a person who sits and studies, with emphasis! Seriously and from morning until night, is doing a service to the country.
Reshef: So it's as hard for the mother of a combat soldier as it is for you every night?
Sherry: Is it as hard for the mother of a non-combat soldier as it is for the mother of a combat soldier? No. There is a mother whose son works in the military from eight to four, it is not as hard for her as it is for a combat soldier.
Reshef: I'm asking about a combat soldier.
Sherry: Definitely for the mother of a combat soldier, I respect her, appreciate her, admire her for what she gives her life for, night and day...
Reshef: I'm trying to ask about the burden. Are you afraid of knocks on the door at night?
Sherry: I belong to the army of those who don't do combat, who also aren't afraid of knocks at night. Knocks at night aren't everything, you have to serve the country. Does someone who does civilian service fear knocks at night? Are there other components...
Reshef: But I put you on the parameters of a combat soldier, a yeshiva student...
Sherry: I'm not saying that my son is like a combat soldier, because you're right that I'm not afraid of knocks at night, but I put my son in those percentages, which up until this moment when it comes to the IDF, I haven't gotten a few percentages, they're 70, 50, 60, 40 percent...
Reshef: But you always speak in a conciliatory spirit, and want it 'together'. Don't you think that in uploading this video, in the circumstances in front of the combat soldiers, in front of the worried parents, in front of the reservists who don't come home, isn't there a little insensitivity in that?
Shari: I'll tell you what I felt at that moment. I felt a sense of loss and criticism of the Haredi members of Knesset. I said to myself - why did Aryeh Deri, a month ago, take the initiative and say the sentence that he knew would be met with backlash, he said, 'I have three deserter grandchildren,' and why are they silent? Why should the Knesset legal advisor oblige them? After all, you were elected on this standard of obeying the rabbis.
Reshef: You're not answering my question...
Sherry: And what is your question, repeat it...
Reshef: Regarding your sensitivity towards all the reservists and the parents of combat soldiers...
Shari: Look, the situation is very explosive. The fact that I'm Haredi, I don't have to say anything, they see that I'm Haredi, they know that I live in Modiin Illit, they know it even without me saying it.
Reshef: The question is whether, under these circumstances, such a video should be uploaded.
Sari: My character says what I said in this video. I am Haredi, I obey the great men of Israel, I am not a Jerusalem faction, I am not one of those who demonstrate at intersections, I am against violence, but this is me. We are Haredi, everyone knows the situation here in the country.
Reshef: What, Yossi?
Sherry: Yossi is angry with me...
Yossi Peled, a major general in the IDF reserves - former commander of the Northern Command - and a former Israeli politician, served as a minister without portfolio on behalf of the Likud: That's your opinion, I want to say that I respect it, it's difficult for me.
Sherry: I respect that it's difficult for you and I understand.
Peled: Running away is running away from the problem. And I allow myself to tell you this. To say a soldier is combat or non-combat - there is a whole army that needs combat soldiers, and in order for combat soldiers to exist, it needs the logistical back-end, everyone needs that.
Sherry: Even for the spiritual realm, that's what I believe in.
Yossi: Give me, give me, give me, I have to breathe between sentences, I'm not finished yet.
Sherry: Yes.
Peled: Let me breathe between trials and finish the trial. The army needs this service. And I personally think there is no way to force everyone into the army. There is one way: You don't want to come into the army? Don't accept anything from this country.
Sherry: I agree with that, by the way. Are the arrests unnecessary, economically? I'm not arguing.
