Some observers believe that Bayit HaYehudi leader Naftali Bennett is pushing his luck as he appears to remain locked in regarding his party’s demands, unwilling to exhibit flexibility in ongoing coalition-building talks. One of the difficulties surrounding the talks is his anti-chareidi position as a result of the deal signed with Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid. This however is not the only major obstacle as Bennett insists Likud/Beitenu reopen the agreement signed with The Movement leader Tzipi Livni to modify it to his liking.
While Bennett feels he is being true to his right-wing voters, Likud/Beitenu negotiators accuse him of sabotaging efforts to build a coalition and actually turning his back on voters, explaining that his unwillingness to adopt a realistic attitude that demands some compromise may result in a coalition that rests on the political left-wing. Likud/Beitenu officials announced on several occasions that Bennett was given ample opportunity to sign on with the coalition ahead of Livni, but he has opted to permit Livni to join first and make demands after the fact.
Bennett and his colleagues are bothered by the realization that Livni will become the next justice minister, but even more worrisome for them is that she will play a key role in negotiations between Israel and the PA (Palestinian Authority).
Likud/Beitenu officials are pointing an accusing finger at Bennett. Attorney David Shomron, who is involved in the coalition talks as a representative of Likud/Beitenu adds, “Bayit Yehudi is not only boycotting the chareidim as a result of the party’s agreement [with Yesh Atid], there is a disqualification of an entire sector” he explained to the media as he left a coalition negotiating session in Kfar Maccabiah.
Shomron explained “we do not accept his disqualification of sectors. We will have to evaluate just how we proceed to build a coalition from this point.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fears that the Bayit HaYehudi/Yesh Atid agreement will result in a government within a government, and the two with their combined 31 seats can and will turn against him at any moment with threats of toppling the coalition. If given the option, Mr. Netanyahu would much prefer bringing the Labor Party on board along with Shas and Yahadut Hatorah, with 33 combined seats, and leaving Bennett and Yair Lapid in opposition.
However, it appears Mr. Netanyahu realizes that Shelly Yacimovich is genuinely not interested in joining the coalition due to differences in hashkafa so he is more likely to continue efforts to persuade Bennett to break away from Yair Lapid and then bringing in Shas and Yahadut Hatorah with their combined 18 seats which will then be added to Bennett’s 12 seats for a total 30.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
How laughable, “some observers” (aka Mr. YWN-Israel desk and Likud hacks) are angry that there is actually a politician or two out there who stands by his principles.
Here’s what some “some other observers” have to say:
1. The Likud has only one goal – to stay in power at any cost.
2. The charedi parties have only one goal – to continue squeezing the Israeli public for money in return for not working, not serving in Tzahal and controlling the Rabbanut and certain key ministries.
3. Tzipi Livni has only one goal – to stay relevant despite her failed record as oppositon leader and current head of the HaTnua party.
In other words, these are kindred spirits – the same corrupt politicians anxious to maintain an untenable status quo while real problems only worsen.
So yes, it is quite true that Bennett and Lapid will wind up in the opposition, but it won’t be because they ‘pushed their luck’. It is because they are represent a concept that is nearly extinct in Israeli politics, a desire to make substantive, positive changes.
Gefet = I disagree
How could Bennett join with Yesh Atid who is not only anti Frum but also Anti settlements
I expect this new Mafdal to either split by the next election to 2 parts – one the real Frum and one what they call here “dati-lite” or else they will disintigrate completely
I dont really thinj Bennett himself is very Frum at all
I wonder how the settlers will feel when Bennett votes for a freeze and/or anything else like taking apart settlements that are surrounded by Arabs
Just rememeber that the Mafdal was in the government whne they passed the Gush Katif disengagement plan
I cant understand how they go against their own people (they also have Bachurim and Kolleleit who were never drafted, the Hesdernkim dont serve as regular soldiers do and most of the Dati Leumi girls do not enlist – so why would he go wiht Lapid???)
Into the Fray: Bennett’s buddy. Or blunder?
By MARTIN SHERMAN
02/21/2013 21:52
It [the disengagement] had nothing to do with the Palestinians, demography, the desire to make peace, the relative [fatigue] of the IDF, or any other explanation that was given. There was a totally different motivation behind the disengagement. The Israelis merely felt that the settlers should be taught a lesson in humility and perhaps in democracy, too. – Yair Lapid, “Things we couldn’t say during disengagement,” May 15, 2006.
In the interests of full disclosure, I voted for Naftali Bennett’s party in the recent election. But I am beginning to wonder…
Vote Bennett, get German?
After all, when I cast my ballot for Bennett, I didn’t realize that Yael German, former Meretz member, or Ofer Shelah, the decidedly left-wing former journalist, were of part of the deal. But this is precisely the situation that has been created by Bennett’s decision to march in lock-step on the issue of national service for the ultra-Orthodox with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid list, in which German and Shelah are in the No. 3 and No. 6 slots, respectively.
I am confident that many supporters of Bennett’s Bayit Yehudi were unaware that they were voting for a“package deal with Lapid’s Yesh Atid, in which Bennett would condition his participation in a Netanyahuled government on Lapid’s participation.
Had they believed that this was a tangible possibility, it is highly plausible that a considerable number of them, myself included, might well have voted differently.
By insisting on the acceptance of both his and Lapid’s demand regarding universal conscription of the ultra-Orthodox into national service as the sine qua non for his agreeing to join the coalition, Bennett is grossly distorting the will of his voters, and abusing the mandate given him by them.
Right goal, wrong tactic
Don’t misunderstand me. I think it is essential to enlist the ultra-Orthodox into the military, or at least some form of national service.
But as important as this matter is, it was not the cardinal issue for which Bennett and Bayit Yehudi were given the support they received. The primary banner that Bennett’s constituency rallied around was his opposition to Palestinian statehood, opposition which he was slated to spearhead.
This was the fundamental reason that many, including me, supported his party – despite grave reservations, some of which I have expressed on this page, concerning his operational proposal on how this should be undertaken.
True, Bennett and Bayit Yehudi are to be commended for it not being a narrow singleissue faction, and for presenting a multifaceted platform, addressing several vitally important socioeconomic problems plaguing Israeli society. However, these were never perceived or presented, prior to the elections, as being imperatives that had to be satisfactorily addressed before the party participated in a Likud-led coalition.
Certainly, voters were never put on notice that such participation was predicated on the approval of Yesh Atid on any issue – including the ultra-Orthodox one, a.k.a. “sharing/equalizing the burden.”
Right goal, perverse partner?
Whatever the manifest moral merits and potential political profits entailed in pushing for a more equitable sharing of the national burden, Lapid is a dubious – some might say, perverse – partner with whom to lock arms on this issue.
For unlike Bennett, who served as an officer in some of the IDF’s most elite special forces units, Lapid can hardly be presented as “leading by example.”
After all, despite being physically fit enough to engage in regular martial arts training, he elected to “share the burden” of military service as a reporter for the IDF journal, Bamahane – hardly the most arduous or hazardous “tour of duty” – which laid the foundation, at the taxpayers’ expense, for his subsequent successful journalistic career.
Now, while I am not implying that noncombatant service in general, and service in one of the IDF media organs in particular, is to be denigrated or dismissed, it can hardly be denied that Lapid’s personal history imparts a rather hollow – some might say, hypocritical – ring to his shrill castigation of haredi avoidance of “bearing the burden.”
Indeed, it makes him a highly unsuited – some might say, absurd – choice for the poster boy leading the charge for the ultra- Orthodox conscription.
It seems that neither the protests nor the vote for Yair Lapid were ever about “social justice,” in the sense of narrowing the gap between the upper and lower deciles. On the contrary: If Lapid… finds a way to get money from others and bring it to his electorate, as they hope he will, then the income gap… will only grow wider – “The wealthy minions of Yair Lapid,” – Haaretz, January 27
Yerushalmit,
You can disagree with me all you like, but please don’t resort to the usual games of questioning Bennett’s personal frumkeit and labeling anyone who opposes the chareidi agenda as anti-frum. It might play well to a select audience, but at best it elicits a yawn from anyone with eyes to see.
The reality is the there are frum members of Yesh Atid and Lapid himself has not said anything anti-frum. I am more concerned about the anti-frum agenda of the UTJers and Shasniks who wish for nothing more than to keep their voters impoverished, uneducated and selfish.
I also wonder why you express concern over how Bennett’s voters will feel should he vote for a settlement freeze or dismantling of settlements. Nothing indicates that he has any desire to do either, though I suppose politics being what they are anything is possible. But we all clearly know how UTJ and Shas would vote when it comes to dismantling the homes of Jews. They will surely vote for it (and have indicated as much) in order to stay in power. Perhaps your righteous indignation ought to be reserved for them, or has it become the acceptable norm for chareidim to only care about their daled amos and not the klal? Incidentally, Jews of all stripes live in the so-called settlements. Maybe you should go out and visit for yourself.
Your lament about Datiim their “going against their own people” speaks volumes. The last I learned we were one people, diagreements notwithstanding. In any case, the vast majority of Dati-Torani men serve in Tzahal, usually in combat units and often in elite units. The chareidim for the most part do the opposite, taking every opportunity to avoid service in Tzahal. What sort of preposterous non-logic would lead you to think that those who put their lives on the line (including those who are talmidei chachamim and some who have become Gedolim and poskim) owe anything to those who shirk their responsibilites and have a long track record – long before there was ever a Bennett or Yesh Atid – of despising and denigrating Datiim?