Oded Ben Ami: Sari, share with me, how is this decision, this announcement, which is truly surprising, how is it received on the Haredi street?
Sherry: They've been talking about it for four years, 'the writing was on the wall' and no one was able to prevent it. There were also those in the public who opposed it. There are those who are definitely in favor, I won't lie to you. As a journalist, this decision is very difficult for me.
Oded Ben Ami: Why?
Sari: First of all, it's not normal in Deg HaTorah. Deg HaTorah didn't expel people, they all left on a stretcher, if they did leave. And it's hard to digest that 'here they are kicking'. We got used to it in Shas, but the truth is that when it happened for the first time in Shas, almost the first time, with Nissim Ze'ev, it was very difficult for me. Nissim Ze'ev was one of the founders of Shas, he was really loved by Rabbi Ovadia, and when it happened I remember those difficult days. But we got used to Shas expelling people. It does it with great class, it gives them some hint, and then they say: 'I'm resigning of my own free will.' I tried to ask today, in one of the houses of the great men of Israel, why didn't you do it like that, why didn't you tell them "give them a hint"... There was no clear answer to that.
The kickoff on Saturday night is hard to digest. These are the moments when you say to yourself: 'I can't be a journalist, I can't stand this.'.
Oded Ben Ami: But is there some explanation, or can you understand some explanation, did they expect Magfani, for example, that he would make sure that the conscription law was passed? Did they expect something? For some kind of achievement and he didn't live up to it? And so they show him the door?
Shari: I want to remind you that the person who was really responsible for the draft law in this government was Yaakov Asher Gafni more than him, because Yaakov Asher was on the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee and spoke, and was interviewed, and did - why blame Gafni more than him? So it goes according to the age register? Like, at what age do you get dismissed? It's not according to the retirement age. It's according to, I don't know, one day there's an election and they say 'you're too old'... What, Maklev is so old that he can't do his job? He's an energetic person, he did a lot of work in the Haredi Authority - you know how many people have contacted me in the last 24 hours, Oded, and told me that they called... this one told me and this one told me, and you understand that this is a pattern of action. 'We called Maklev in the middle of the night, with my daughter, with the school, with the kindergarten... He answered us!
Oded Ben Ami: I want to ask you something about, or in continuation of, the response that Eli Hirshman just read from Rabbi Lando's house, is there someone pulling the strings? There's someone named David Shapira, who is one of the owners of the newspaper 'Yated Ne'eman', who they say is a very, very central figure, he's a figure who makes decisions and makes recommendations and his recommendations cannot be ignored.
Shari: First of all, I don't know if he is one of the owners of 'Yated Ne'eman' - he is the grandson of Rabbi Shteinman and in fact today he is very close to the house of Rabbi Lando. Now look, 'pulling the strings', I've heard this legend since the time of Rabbi Schach, who were 'pulling the strings', you probably remember too...
Oded Ben Ami: Of course...
Sari: Then it passed, the 'strings' and the 'pullers' moved to Rabbi Elyashiv's house, and they said it at Rabbi Shteinman's, about that David Shapira 'pulling his grandfather's strings,' after that it passed to Yanki Kanievsky who 'pulled the strings,' after that it passed to some strange Moti in Rabbi Edelstein's house, that he wasn't there long enough so maybe you didn't have time to get to know the 'strings' and the 'pullers' - I don't buy it, because in the end there is the Rabbi, and Rabbi Lando in his clear voice, many times you've seen letters that he drafted himself, long letters, and read them word for word, and he knows what he's saying, and when he speaks against Netanyahu, the 'liar', you see that he understands what is being said to him, I don't buy the 'strings and the pullers.'.
Oded: Still, I want to ask you something about Yaakov Asher. Some people claim that politically, contrary to Gafni's basic inclination, which is to say, he went with Netanyahu, Yaakov Asher is not certain to follow Netanyahu.
Shari: I myself interviewed Gafni and he didn't talk about Netanyahu, he was careful as if because they were still inside and still thought he would give them a draft law, but I have heard Gafni say harsh criticisms of Netanyahu more than once. Even from Yaakov, which I heard. And they don't decide! Let's remember, 'Shluchei Drabnan' do they call themselves? If Rabbi Lando says tomorrow, 'We don't go with Netanyahu, only with Eisenkot,' Gafni can think whatever he wants, Maklev can think whatever he wants...
Oded Ben Ami: We do as the rabbis command...
Shari: Unequivocally! Both in Shas and in United Torah Judaism. By the way, that's why we vote for them, and it doesn't matter who is at the top. I always tweet from the ballot box and say, 'Even if a cat is at the top, we vote for them.' Whether we like the representative or don't like the representative, like the impeachment or don't like the impeachment. I admit that this time it will be a difficult experience for me. It will be difficult for me to put the ballot on the ballot. I, it hurts me, it hurts me very much.
Oded Ben Ami: To the point of the possibility of there being some kind of split?
Sherry: No. There won't be. In the end, the decision was made jointly and there will be no split. If Rabbi Hirsch doesn't want that to happen, then he'll know how to do the right thing in the next two days, but apparently it was made jointly.
