Financial Empires and a System of Slavery.. Economist Reveals the Inner Workings of the Haredi 'Parallel State'

Israeli lawyer and economist, Naomi Abraham, painted a grim picture of the internal structure of the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community, asserting that what appears publicly is merely an outer shell concealing a tightly controlled economic and social system of influence. Abraham, who grew up in this environment before leaving it, explained that the religious establishment has created a system characterized by cruelty and discrimination, primarily aimed at keeping vulnerable groups, especially Eastern women, in a state of perpetual dependence on the elite.

Sources indicated that the liberal and secular currents in Israel are unaware of what truly goes on behind the walls of this system, as Haredi leaders are not as concerned with theology as they are with controlling real estate and financial institutions. Abraham considered that the key to understanding this society lies in 'reading the balance sheets' rather than in the declared religious discourse, emphasizing the existence of parallel economic influence networks to official state institutions.

The expert reviewed her personal experience in the 'Beis Yaakov' schools in Jerusalem, where girls are denied the opportunity to take matriculation exams to ensure they do not reach university education. She described this policy as a deliberate tool to crush professional aspirations and keep women at the lowest rung of the social ladder, making their exit from the system almost impossible due to a lack of educational and linguistic tools.

Abraham spoke about her experience working within the Ministries of Finance and Justice, where she discovered the stark contradiction in the behavior of religious leaders who impose strict restrictions on women in their community, while dealing with complete flexibility with non-Haredi women to achieve economic interests. She believed that the essence of the system is not 'holiness' as promoted, but rather a mechanism for social control and the perpetuation of power relations and financial dependence.

She described the Haredi structure as a 'parallel state' that possesses its own education, housing, media, and judicial sectors, away from the oversight of the Israeli state. She gave the example of the influential 'Karlitz' family, whose influence extends to areas comparable in importance to the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Education, and major real estate companies, creating a frightening authoritarian centralization within the extremist community.

Regarding the financial aspect, Abraham revealed that some religious institutions have transformed into massive investment empires, such as the 'Mir Yeshiva' school in Jerusalem, which is managed as a company worth billions of shekels. This institution owns extensive real estate assets and residential complexes in the heart of the city, and benefits from enormous tax exemptions and financial concentration that serves a single family that has managed it for over a century.

Analyses confirmed that social mobility within this community is almost non-existent, as the ruling elite is keen to confine power and wealth within a closed circle through family intermarriage. Abraham was shocked to find that most members of the 'Council of Torah Sages' are directly related, which reinforces an 'oligarchic' structure that perpetuates corruption and monopoly under the guise of religion.

Abraham held the secular political elite responsible for the continuation of this reality, considering that they chose to coexist with this 'parallel state' in exchange for ensuring political loyalty and government coalitions. She pointed out that parties like 'Shas' and 'Degel HaTorah' blackmail Israeli governments to impose their conditions, exploiting the need of coalitions for their votes in the Knesset to pass huge budgets that serve their private interests.

The expert criticized the normalization of Israeli society with conditions of poverty and dependence within the Haredi community under the guise of 'cultural specificity'. She considered that this environment forces thousands to live in forced isolation, where an individual finds themselves unable to integrate into general society if they decide to leave, due to their lack of basic professional and linguistic skills that they were deprived of in their youth.

Abraham touched upon the systematic ethnic discrimination against 'Mizrahi' (Eastern) Jews in elite schools, where girls are denied admission based on their ethnic origins. She recounted how she was personally humiliated in her childhood due to these practices, emphasizing that the state was aware of these violations but preferred silence to maintain its political alliances with Haredi leaders.

She described what is happening as a kind of 'internal colonialism', where Haredi community leaders ally with secular political elites to maintain the status quo. While religious leaders guarantee a stable voting bloc for the political system, they receive in return complete freedom to manage their closed society away from any modern democratic or human rights standards.

In conclusion of her vision, Abraham pointed to the manifestations of extreme wealth enjoyed by Haredi leaders who travel around the world and live luxurious lives, while their followers are mired in debt and abject poverty. She concluded that these leaders do not represent the rights of their public, but rather their economic and authoritarian interests, turning the general Haredi population into victims of a closed system that feeds on their poverty and ignorance.

Understanding the Haredim is not through religious discourse, but through reading balance sheets and monitoring control over real estate and land.