Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appears to have come to the realization that he will not succeed in his divide and conquer strategy, having made numerous attempts to break up the agreement reached between Naftali Bennett of Bayit HaYehudi and Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid. As such, now in week four of the 28-day mandate to build a coalition, Mr. Netanyahu will have to approach President Shimon Peres and request a 14-day extension to buy time towards persuading parties to join his coalition.
In the meantime, Lapid and Bennett have been working and they have reached agreement, amending their share the burden plan. It is reported that instead of their original annual ceiling for draft deferments for chareidim of 400, they are now willing to accept permitting up to 1,500 chareidim to continue their limud Torah, coming close to quadrupling the original number.
In addition, the age at which an avreich may be dismissed from serving will be lowered to 21 from 24, with the latter being the age presented by Likud/Beitenu.
In the interim, for Likud/Beitenu things have becomes increasingly complicated with the news of Shaul Mofaz and his two-seat Kadima Party joining with Bennett and Lapid. It is clear that Mofaz plans to use the leverage of their combined 33 seats to demand the defense minister slot. The 33-seat bloc is a formidable one, but Mr. Netanyahu can build a coalition without them if he can bring the chareidim, Shas (11), Yahadut Hatorah (7) and Labor (15) on board, which would leave him with a coalition of 70.
This would leave Yesh Atid (19), Bayit Yehudi (12), Meretz (6) and the Arabs (11) in opposition for a total of 120 seats.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
Hardly irrational. On Economics they both agree (pro-capitalism, anti-welfare state); unlike the old Mafdal, Bayit Yehudi has a very middle class constituency (the working class religious are primarily Shas supporters). On foreign affairs, Lapid is generally to the right – and very much aligned with Likud, and clearly right of Livni and Labor and the Hareidim. They share a distaste for the Hareidi lifestyle, and want to make sure Israeli is a “modern” and “civilized” western country.
The implications of all this will possibly be that the Hareidim will in future be inclined to be seen as the natural allies of the Labor party (with whom they share an economic philosophy, and whose members are now inclined to be unsupportive of conscription). And in many ways, the Hareidim who are concerned with autonomy can more easily work out a deal on matters such as secular marriages (which we don’t recognize as valid, and indeed many hareidi rabbanim don’t recognize any marriage by seculars as creating a maritial relationship due to lack of intent) and other “religious” issues rather than the Dati Leumi, for whom preserving the “unity” of Jewish Israel requires a single standard of marriage and conversion that results in all non-Arabs being kosher Jews (which most secular Israelis see as irrelevant and annoying).
Likud does NOT want the Hareidim to become allies with the left, since it creates a situation in which Likud could lose control of the country – at present no matter what happens, only Likud can form a government. So if Likud is forced to form an Hareidi-free (“Hareidi-rein”) government, it will be a major setback for Likud.
1. Bennett never said 400 exemptions. That was Lapid. He and Bennett have compromised at 1500 new exemptions every year.
2. Absolutely everyone is allowed, even encouraged, to continue learning Torah, not only those with exemptions. The rest are just required to spend part of their life serving as well. This is not an either/or choice so much as a call for both.
Rav Akuperma
there seems to be very little chance of:
1. Charedim teaming up w Labor, there’s much more that separates them than brings them together
2. Charedim in next coalition, Shas has proved unreliable and unworthy, even to opportunist Bibi
3. The troika of Lapid Bennet and Mofaz not being in next coalition, Bibi would be smart to realize that inevitability
4. You saying anything nice about Israel
As noted settler Lt. Col. Yishai Fleisher wrote a couple months ago, the greatest danger many members of the IDF ever face are the traffic circles in Tel Aviv.
how is it when there is war, everyone is together and talk of yeshiva draft stops?
e.g. during the Yom Kippur war when some bochrim offered to join the army, they were told to go back and learn and daven for them.
About Time – you are wrong. They couldnt join the army in Yom Kippur war because they weren’t trained but Haredi volunteers did perform national service such as rolling bandages.
Bennett has probably noticed that the Haredi parties did not approach him, as leader of a Dati party, with the offer of an alliance. No, that was Lapid. Shas / UTJ can’t have it both ways! The Haredi attitude to Dati Leumi kehila over past 20 years has not been one of Ahavat Yisrael or Acheinu Kol Bet Yisrael.