A "useful idiot" is a term that refers to a phenomenon many on the right and in the religious community fall into. It describes a person who, without realizing it, joins a spiritual and cultural movement that contradicts their beliefs, simply due to a limited understanding of the broader picture. This person is well-meaning and upright, wanting to act for the benefit of the people of Israel, but in practice, they end up joining those who harm Israel.
Left-wing organizations recognize the weaknesses of the right, especially in the religious community, and they recruit right-wing and religious individuals for their purposes without them even noticing.
Remember, left-wing organizations, without exception, have two main goals they wish to achieve: establishing a left-wing government and transforming the country's identity into a "A state of all its citizens."
Here are some examples to help anyone identify when they are joining a good initiative and when they are actually being exploited [to the cause of useful idiocy]:
A. Unity.
Unity is a great value. True unity includes all parts of Am Yisrael, the Nation of Israel, both right and left.
But when left-wing organizations wave the word unity, they don't really mean it. On the contrary: they use the word unity to boycott and ostracize large segments of Am Yisrael. Guess which parts? The entire religious Zionist public and the ideological right.
When left-wing organizations call for a unity government, it usually excludes Smotrich and Ben Gvir. None of them suggest that, for the sake of unity, the left would compromise and join a government with Smotrich or Ben Gvir. So, while unity is on their lips, division and exclusion are in their hands.
A similar tactic is calling for the establishment of a "center government"—a government that they believe represents "the majority of the people"—without the so-called "extremists." And who are the extremists? You guessed it, the Religious Zionists and the ideological right. By the way, 64 seats (in the Knesset) already represents a majority of the people.
As a general rule, whenever leftists talk about unity, ask yourself: what are they willing to do for it? What sacrifices are they willing to make, and what price are they willing to pay for it? When you investigate, you'll discover that the cost is always demanded only from the right or the religious side of the spectrum.
B. Hostages.
If some of the hostage families hadn't made such claims, it would have been difficult to write this. Left-wing organizations, who stop at nothing, also use the hostage issue to achieve their goal—toppling the government.
Anyone with a sense of responsibility towards the nation understands two things:
1. The value of victory in the war is greater than the value of rescuing the unfortunate hostages, since that is saving individuals, while victory in the war saves everyone.
2. Even the value of freeing hostages cannot be "at any cost," because there are prices that anyone who values life is not willing to pay.
We failed to grasp this in the Shalit deal, and in exchange for freeing one soldier, we received hundreds of murdered citizens by the hands of released terrorists. Of course, a right-wing government that would make such an anti-national step would immediately fall, leading to the establishment of a left-wing government.
But let’s consider the phrase "at any cost": When the left says "at any cost," do they mean a price that Hamas will pay? That the residents of Gaza will pay? Or do they mean a price that Jews will pay?
After all, "at any cost" could also be interpreted as annexing areas from Gaza to teach them a lesson, expelling Arabs from the Strip, or encouraging voluntary emigration to apply pressure to release the hostages.
In conclusion, if you find yourself at a rally, square, conference, or house meeting where they talk about releasing hostages "at any cost" (which Jews are expected to pay), and without discussions of victory or defeating Hamas—you’ve found yourself in the midst of a leftist activity. Reconsider your path.
C. It's the Government's Fault.
There's no doubt that many are responsible for the disaster of October 7th, both in the political and military leadership over recent years. But the left, for some reason, places all the blame solely on the current government (which is "coincidentally" a right-wing government, without leftist representation); they don’t call for the resignation of the top brass in the army and the Shin Bet (or mention the judiciary's responsibility), even though clearly the primary responsibility for the failure lies with them. They also don’t call for the resignation of members of the left-wing Bennett-Lapid government, despite the fact that they acted in exactly the same way as the current government.
So if, among all the responsible parties, it all boils down to one person (Bibi), or a few more (Smotrich and Ben Gvir), it’s a sign that fixing the failure is not really the issue—it’s the toppling of the right-wing government and replacing it with a left-wing one.
Attributing to the government actual murder, as opposed to just responsibility, is insane. An attendee at some of the Kaplan demonstrations would think Netanyahu personally executed the hostages, and wouldn’t even know there’s an organization called Hamas. I’m not even talking about the comparisons between the current government and Nazi Germany—that’s just completely off the rails. If you find yourself in a place where they say only Bibi is to blame and that he’s a murderer—run away. You’re surrounded by dangerous people trapped in mass psychosis who can’t tell friend from foe.
D. Elections Now!
Another cynical way to fool the public is the call for elections. In Israel's democracy, a government is elected for four years. There’s no reason in the world to replace a government if it hasn't fallen. Moreover, if the public that elected the government is the one calling for its dissolution, that’s legitimate, but if you notice, most of those calling for elections now "coincidentally" voted for opposition parties. They just wrap it up in terms like "broad consensus is needed," or that a wartime government needs to "regain the public's trust," and other slogans designed to confuse the well-meaning right-wing and religious person, who sees no need to replace the current government.
By the way, elections in the midst of war are the most irresponsible thing to do because the government becomes paralyzed. But as we said, their ultimate goal is not victory over Hamas, but victory over the right-wing government. If a friend claims we need to have elections now, tell them we'll all go to elections together in two years.
E. The Mitzvah of Redeeming Captives.
One way left-wing organizations try to influence religious Zionists or the ultra-Orthodox is by tugging at their emotional and halachic heartstrings, citing Judaism and Jewish law. Sometimes leftist organizations publish ads quoting verses like "Love your neighbor as yourself", "The mitzvah of redeeming captives," and the obligation to listen to rabbis who have ruled in this direction.
Those who despise the Torah and Judaism, those who scorn Torah scholars every day, who try to distance Judaism from the public space—suddenly they become its messengers? Suddenly they care about what the Torah says? Suddenly we need to listen to a rabbi? It’s simply ridiculous. It’s a big, cynical, and devious show that seems to be working on people; otherwise, they wouldn’t be doing it.
Here's a suggestion: Maybe on the upcoming Yom Kippur, we should organize a massive prayer service in Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv, with separation, of course, as the rabbis instruct—for the release of the hostages? What do you think—will they agree to that? After all, we must do everything, absolutely everything, to release them.
In short, you get the idea. Let’s stop being useful idiots.
* This article was written by Rabbi Eitan Kauffman and was featured on the WhastApp group "Path Pavers".