As Shas continues efforts to pull Bayit Yehudi into a religious bloc against Yesh Atid, Naftali Bennett has sent a clear message to all concerned regarding his loyalties. The daily Maariv reports that Bennett and Yair Lapid sent a clear message to coalition negotiators that if they wish to close a deal to include either party in a coalition government, it will have to be in the presence of both of them as they are acting as one. That is to say both Bennett and Lapid have agreed not to enter the coalition or sign any agreement without the other being on board. They are aware that they wield considerable political might as they control a combined 31 seats.
As the coalition talks enter week three, it appears there is a deadlock as Bennett and Lapid appear determined to show Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu their election signals a new era in Israeli politics, one of non-compromise on key issues, in this case, the share the burden – the effort to draft chareidim into the IDF and national service.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Possible implications if an alliance of the secular center with the modern Orthodox holds:
1. Hareidim pushed into a permanent alliance with the Left. A sign this is happening is that the Israeli left will move more towards an appreciation of mulitculturalism and religious diversity that characterizes the American left, and away from the militant secularism of Europe.
2. The Sefardi and Feiglin wings of Likud drop out, though Feiglin has been suggesting he’ld be comfortable in an alliance with the secular center-right (he made a point of touching some women in public to show how liberal he is). Shas would benefit if the Sefardi working class left Likud
3. The “Hardal” types (very frum but fanatic zionists) do poorly if this happens since the dominant right parties will be secular.
However this probably won’t happen, since I don’t think Bennett’s supporters are more concerned with being “modern” than with being “orthodox”.
Bibi will form a left-wing coalition and the Charedi parties will join and give their stamp of approval on peace plans, disengagement and withdrawals…
1. The chareidi parties will join with anyone, even the most militant secular and even with the Arabs, in order to continue the untenable situation of taking state benefits while not working and not serving in Tzahal. Perhaps the best solution for the charedim at this point is the one proposed by R. Dovid Soloveichik as reported by YW last week.
2. Most Sefardic supporters of Shas, at least for now, are not chareidi. They support Shas because they either admire the brilliance of R. Ovadia or they take pride in a party supposedly serving Sefardic interests. It remains to be seen how far the average Sefardi will continue supporting Shas, especially as R. Ovadia gets older and Shas becomes more decentralized.
3. The chardalim are truly be in a bind, because like the chareidim they support an untenable situation. They support a state and an army but don’t support the very lifeblood of a functioning state (i.e. people actually earning a living). At some point they will have to make a choice between the chareidi and dati sides of their split personality.
4. Bennett to his credit has remained steadfast in representing the will of his supporters and has carried himself with tremendous dignity given the insults hurled at him from all sides. Whether one agrees with him or not, he has thus far displayed the best middos of any of the current party leaders to date.