Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is one of the busiest people in the world. Just two weeks ago, on Aug. 5, his office announced that Iran was still plotting to annihilate Israel. He is probably also busy preparing plans to make good on his promise from April to end Hamas' rule in Gaza within 48 hours, should he become defense minister (he became defense minister in May). Liberman is a man of his word. His desk is also literally covered with permit requests for new construction in West Bank settlements. While juggling all the above, the defense minister still took time out to deal with a handful of soldiers who had volunteered to play with the babies of status-less asylum seekers, ordering the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, to put an end to this outrage.

There are those who, like Liberman's predecessor, Moshe Ya’alon, interpreted Liberman’s behavior as an attempt to “showcase his 'leadership skills' over the IDF chief of staff.” Liberman may well have found an opportunity to seat Eizenkot on a humiliatingly low chair, just as Danny Ayalon, Liberman’s one-time deputy when the latter served as foreign minister, did in 2010 to the Turkish ambassador, whom he had summoned for a reprimand. There is, however, another, far deeper and more disturbing explanation for kicking the volunteering soldiers out of the facilities dubbed “children’s warehouses” or “babysitters,” where asylum seekers leave their kids when they go to work. The explanation lies in an announcement by the defense minister’s office, according to which, “If soldiers have free time, let them help Holocaust survivors or the needy. ‘The paupers of your city have priority.’” The reference to paupers alludes to Talmud Baba Metsia 71, meaning that charity for one's poor neighbors precedes charity for family in a distant city.

These words epitomize the xenophobia, separatism, racism and cruelty that are eating away at every value that Israel once held sacred. These toxic waters are trickling down from the top to the very roots of society, overflowing and flooding the environment. They began with Knesset member Miri Regev, the current culture minister, calling asylum seekers a “cancer” in Israel’s body in 2012, and then moved on to the group calling itself Students for Southern Tel Aviv, which a year ago “ratted out” soldiers who volunteered at daycare centers for the children of asylum seekers. At the time, the army spokesman issued a response to the right-wing Jewish Voice website that ran the item, stating that the activity was part of the army’s encouragement of soldiers to contribute to their communities, that it was apolitical and that it was approved, as usual, by the commanders and education officers of their unit. Of note, IDF soldiers also assist Holocaust survivors, children with disabilities and charitable organizations that distribute food to the poor.

Indeed, in an enlightened society, the state bears responsibility for those less fortunate — the state, not soldiers and other volunteers, such as the nongovernmental organization Elifelet, which takes care of children of asylum seekers. The asylum seekers, who numbered 57,000 in 2012, cannot be deported because of the danger that would await them in their homeland. There is no doubt that they are needy, among other reasons because of draconian Israeli laws and regulations, and that they reside in Tel Aviv. Given this, why are they not worthy of consideration as “paupers” who have priority? After all, the Talmud's maxim does not refer to “Jewish paupers.”