Haredi minister dances to anti-Zionist, anti-IDF song, draws bipartisan calls to fire him
Yitzchak Goldknopf filmed among crowd singing ‘We will die and not enlist [to the IDF]’; he apologizes after initially dismissing criticism as ‘incitement’; PM praises disavowal
Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf caused a political uproar Sunday evening after a video emerged of the Haredi leader dancing to an anti-Zionist, anti-enlistment song at his nephew’s wedding, drawing calls for his ouster by both coalition and opposition politicians, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to praise his key ally for disavowing the ditty.
In a widely distributed clip, Goldknopf, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) coalition party, could be seen in the middle of a circle of young Haredi men singing that they “don’t believe in the government of infidels” and “won’t show up at their [army] recruitment offices.” The lyrics also included: “We will die and not enlist.”
The song, a version of a famous anthem of the staunchly anti-Zionist Neturei Karta Haredi sect, has recently become a hit in mainstream ultra-Orthodox circles and has been the center of several controversies.
The background is a High Court of Justice ruling last year that there is no legal basis for the decades-long blanket exemption from military service for Haredi yeshiva students, as well as a decision by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara that there can be no daycare subsidies for the children of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who refuse to obey military draft orders.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid reacted furiously to Sunday’s clip, noting the heavy price paid by soldiers on October 7, 2023, and since. “A minister who jumps up [to dance] against the State of Israel should have been fired this evening,” he declared.
But Netanyahu was not doing so because “he is the prime minister of evasion and refusal,” Lapid asserted.
בשלטון הכופרים אין אנו מאמינים. השר יצחק גולדקנופף בריקוד סוער כעת עם בחורי ישיבות שזועקים: 'ובלשכותיהם אין אנו מתייצבים' pic.twitter.com/9ExW6yvkny
— משה ויסברג (@moshe_nayes) March 23, 2025
“This is not the ‘Deep State’ — it is subversion from within the government that is harming the State of Israel,” said National Unity party chairman Benny Gantz, echoing a recent Netanyahu campaign against the so-called “deep state” of bureaucrats thwarting government decisions.
Gantz argued that the only appropriate response to Goldknopf’s actions was “a letter of dismissal and enlistment orders [to young Haredi men].”
“Any other message is a spit in the faces of IDF soldiers. Only a Zionist consensus government will save Israel’s security,” he tweeted.
“Our soldiers are guarding the borders and Minister Goldknopf dances to the evasion anthem,” tweeted Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer. “A real prime minister would have fired him this evening. But we only have the fake version of a prime minister. The State of Israel must enact a simple law — if you don’t enlist, then you don’t vote either.”
Some of Goldknopf’s coalition partners also lashed out at the Haredi leader.
“A shame and a disgrace,” tweeted Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. “We can no longer remain silent in the face of Minister Goldknopf’s indifference, disdain and ungratefulness toward the State of Israel and the heroic IDF fighters. I demand that the prime minister summon him for clarification this evening, set a red line for him, and put an end to his disgraceful conduct.”
MK Ohad Tal of Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party accused Goldknopf of having “gone completely off the rails” and insisted that Netanyahu “should show him the door so that anyone who does not believe in the ‘rule of the infidels’ will not dare to be a minister.”
Aliya and Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer, also of Religious Zionism, said Goldknopf was “unfit to be a minister in the Israeli government,” charging that someone who “is unable to clearly condemn such a shameful action can’t be part of the national leadership during this difficult time.”
MK Moshe Saada of the ruling Likud party reacted: “Is there no shame? Is there no limit to how low you can go? Dear Minister Goldknopf, you don’t believe in the government of infidels? Then have it your way and step down from your prestigious and rewarding position in the same government you don’t believe in. And if you don’t do this, I call on Prime Minister Netanyahu to do it for you.”
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett dismissed the condemnations by members of the coalition, posting on X that their statements were “worthless” as long as the government transfers “billions [of shekels] in a [state] budget that encourages evasion, thereby placing the entire burden on our reservists.”
“We don’t need your condemnations, but simple action by the government: A complete cessation of evasion budgets.”
Responding to the wall-to-wall denunciations, Goldknopf accused his critics of attempting to sow division and stoke conflict, arguing that while he had not felt comfortable with the song, he did not leave “in order not to offend the groom and his family.”
“Unfortunately, some people have taken advantage of this for incitement, as if I agree with the content of the song. So here it is: I disavow and condemn it,” he wrote.
Responding to Goldknopf’s statement, Netanyahu said that the minister “did well to disavow the song that was played at the event he attended and even expressed regret about it.”
“There is no place for songs against serving in the IDF. It is time to unite the forces within against the enemies without,” he tweeted.
Goldknopf later issued a stronger apology, acknowledging the footage offended many and saying that “at the height of the dance and the music, I didn’t set boundaries, and precisely as someone who helps reservists, fears for the wellbeing of soldiers and prays for their success — I ask for forgiveness.”
“I was obligated to shut down the band immediately and this is what I’ll do going forward,” he added. “I very much understand those pained [by the images] and apologize.”
General housing resources directed towards Haredim
It wasn’t Goldknopf’s first public apology of the day.
The minister also drew political heat Sunday over remarks he made on Tuesday last week at an education conference in the city of Beit Shemesh, which has become more and more Haredi over the past few decades.
Goldknopf boasted that he was steering housing resources toward the ultra-Orthodox community at the expense of the rest of the population: “Even what they thought would be for the [non-Haredi] public, we allocated in some way to the Haredi public. Not all the things can be talked about.”
According to financial daily The Marker, so far this year, the Israel Land Authority has only issued tenders for housing in Beit Shemesh aimed at the ultra-Orthodox market.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli (Likud) charged that Goldknopf’s remarks constituted “malicious discrimination against the general public” for which he should be ousted.
Chikli has been calling for Goldknopf’s dismissal since Friday.
Responding to the criticism, Goldknopf said he would send his fellow ministers a detailed explanation of his policies and tweeted that he “would like to apologize for the way I expressed myself.”
“To be clear, the Construction and Housing Ministry operates in accordance with the law, and contrary to how vested interests sought to interpret my words – nothing was done in violation of the rules,” he wrote, insisting that his ministry “works for the benefit of all communities in the State of Israel.”
Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev, also of UTJ, claimed that Goldknopf was engaged in “affirmative action” in a city “where the Haredi community was excluded,” the ultra-Orthodox news site Behadrei Haredim reported.
