Tension between the Haredi community and the state of Israel is something that existed for a long time. The Jewish State of Israel was proclaimed in 1948 because of Zionist ideology. Before the establishment of the state secular Zionist and Haredim already disagreed on what a Jewish state should look like and what the role of Judaism should be in that state. In the first place, the pre-state Haredi community was against the establishment of the state of Israel, since they believe this should be done by the Messiah who, according to most religious Jews, is still yet to come. Zionism has no legitimacy without Judaism, since it is based on the ancient covenant of the Jewish people with the Bible. Besides that, the Zionist needed worldwide Jewish support for the establishment of the state of Israel and needed to please the Haredi community. This was done by compromising on religious issues. Even though the Haredim did not support the man-made Jewish state, after the Holocaust almost all orthodox centers in Europe were destroyed and the establishment of the new state of Israel gave them the opportunity to rebuild their communities and guaranteed their lifestyle.
