The announced election agreement between Likud and Yisrael Beitenu last week appears to have sent a ‘wake up’ call to chareidi politicians, so much so that they appear to have reached agreement to unite all the parties, Agudas Yisrael and Shas.

Chadrei Chareidim reports that ‘those in the know’ add that despite the worrisome union between Likud and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s party, the prime minister stipulated that the election campaign cannot be anti-chareidi, signaling the prime minister wishes to leave a door open to bringing chareidim into the coalition.

Lieberman announced at the press conference following the signing of the agreement “Certainly we will have to make concessions and we cannot separate between religion and the State of Israel. We are the Jewish People and there is an absolute identification between nationality and religion. We must however separate religion from askonus. I oppose the frum askanim and their business dealings with kashrus and religious councils. I support our tradition and heritage and a separation of religion and askonus.”

It appears the leaders of the frum parties have agreed that they will stand together in coalition negotiations so one party will not close a deal independent of the others. Such a move is beneficial to Agudas Yisrael, which will now benefit from the negotiating position of Shas, which the polls show will be larger. It also gives Degel HaTorah additional leverage against the split-off HaPeles faction, for a united Yahadut HaTorah and Shas basically leaves HaPeles out in the cold.

According to the agreement, six representatives of the Yahadut HaTorah list, which represents Agudas Yisrael and Degel HaTorah, will be placed in the first 20 slots of Shas’ list. As a result, Deri will become the leader of the chareidi bloc in Knesset in the hope of the joint list earning at least 20 seats. This will also alleviate concerns surrounding rotation agreements in Agudas Yisrael vis-à-vis Gur, since the united list increases the chances of the sixth person on the Yahadut HaTorah list entering Knesset, eliminating the need to rotate the slot as was the case in the past. On the other hand, it will somewhat reduce the power of Yahadut HaTorah, which may now be subjected the more moderate and left-wing political hashkafa of Aryeh Deri.

That said, Yahadut HaTorah officials realize this may be met with opposition in Shas between the Deri and Yishai factions. Also reported in the news is that Likud is far from pleased with the announced union with Yisrael Beitenu and the party leaders may not ratify the agreement.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)