In a blistering audio recording, Reserve Major Eli Adler, a Haredi military rabbi and former combat soldier, tears apart the secret plan to create a new "Internal Borders Unit" (YAGAH), calling it "a private militia with zero logic or feasibility."
Adler, who served for decades as a frontline fighter before becoming a military chaplain, was reacting to Kikar HaShabbat's bombshell exposé on the initiative led by Rabbi Avraham Deutsch (head of the Ma’ale Adumim Badatz) and Reserve Brig. Gen. Yoeli Or.
"There is no feasibility in the world for establishing a unit like this, not from the state, not from the IDF, not from the police, not from the courts, and not even from the rabbis," Adler declares in the recording.
A "Private Militia" Funded by Begging?
The proposal, detailed in a 20-page booklet, envisions a standalone Haredi security force tasked with protecting Haredi neighborhoods, yeshivas, and public spaces, independent of the IDF or police. Adler zeroes in on the command structure: "This is a kind of independent militia where the commanders are appointed by the Council of Torah Sages (Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah)."
Funding? Partially from the Defense Ministry, but most for weapons, ammo, vests, vehicles, uniforms, and boots would come from private donations."You can’t run a combat-ready unit dependent on the mercy of donors," Adler blasts. "An association will be set up to shnorr (beg) money to keep this unit afloat."
Who Commands the Commanders?
The core flaw, says Adler, is command and control: "There is zero feasibility for a unit not subordinate to the IDF, its commanders, and the Defense Minister, or to the police and the Public Security Minister, but instead answerable to rabbis and the Council of Torah Sages."
"Will rabbis give operational orders? Why bring in Haredi commanders if they too need oversight? Who commands them? Back to the Council of Torah Sages. It’s a plan with no logic or feasibility."
