The achdus in Yahadut Hatorah between the litvish Degel Hatorah party and the chassidish Agudas Yisrael party is now officially history, as the Knesset House Committee on Wednesday morning, January 9, 2019, approved a request to split the parties. The fact that they put differences aside and ran together earned the combined list at least one additional seat in the 20th Knesset, and if they do not run together in the upcoming race, which they still can, it will undoubtedly claim a price in the number of seats they receive. In fact, according to some polls, if they do opt to run independent of one another, there is a chance one or both parties might not pass the 3.25% minimum election threshold to enter Knesset.

Should this be the case, it would have a profound impact on life for the chareidi tzibur in Israel during the coming years as their representation in Knesset would be significantly diminished.

Speaking officially however, “The request is submitted with the agreement of the two parties in accordance with the agreement that was set between them even before the elections for the 21st Knesset and is requested for procedural reasons only,” the statement read.

The petition was signed by MK Menachem Eliezer Moses, chairman of Yahadut Hatorah. Moses will not be continuing in the 21st Knesset, as was reported, as the Vishnitzer Rebbe Shlita has tapped Yanki Tessler to replace him. Tessler is a former advisor to Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman.

BeChadrei Chareidim adds, that it should be noted that although this is a technical procedure that will add money to the campaign and divide the work in the party into two, negotiations between the parties at this stage are not progressing as there is bitterness between the factions following the lack of harmony that accompanied the municipal elections.

BeChadrei Chareidim also report that Agudas Yisrael’s Committee of Eight, the leadership committee of the party, reported to party Secretary Chanoch Zeibert regarding Degel Hatorah’s proposal to Agudas Yisrael that they would sign an agreement for two terms that states the senior and junior positions held would be alternated between the parties, with Degel taking the senior positions in the first of the two terms of the agreement.

Yahadut Hatorah is stressing the split is not machlokes-related, but the request to split the factions by the Knesset Committee is “a well-known procedural move coordinated between the factions, without any significance for the way they run in the upcoming elections”.

Agudas Yisrael’s Yaakov Litzman initially refuted the report of the requested split, but the move has been confirmed by the Knesset spokesman, Shimon Malka.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)