Former Yesha Council executive director, Pinchas Wallerstein opted to speak out against Bayit Yehudi once again on Israel Radio. Wallerstein used the opportunity to laud the dati leumi tzibur’s achievement in the election, lamenting the bond formed between the dati leumi party and Yair Lapid.
Wallerstein explains that while he has spoken with Bennett and others, after his somewhat scathing criticism there is less dialogue between them today. He feels that “one cannot disqualify another… speak about beliefs, ideology, not disqualifying others.”
The veteran settlement leader rejects outright the union between Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid. “Yair Lapid writes on his Facebook page that even if the chareidim come around he does not see sitting in a coalition with them.” He questions how the dati leumi party reaches a point where is joins davka with someone like Lapid, one who rejects working with the chareidim just because they are chareidim.
Wallerstein admits that there is merit to Bennett’s statement that if not for the strength gained with the union with Lapid’s party Bayit Yehudi might have been locked out of the coalition, but for him, it is simple. “There are places you don’t go and signing with Lapid is one of them.”
Wallerstein emphasized numerous times during the short interview that it must be about ideology, and that is the only reason for joining the coalition is if the ideological foundation of the coalition is acceptable. If not he feels there is nothing else to talk about.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Oh, he noticed that Bennet shot himself in the foot?
The only way out would be for Bayit Yehudi to support abolition of conscription combined with both economic incentives for hareidim to enlist and ending harassment of frum people in the IDF. Otherwise he guarantees that the Hareidim will be forced to ally with the left wing parties (with they already share economic views) in order to oppose conscription.
Ah, the old divide and conquer strategy. Find Datiim Leumiim who have no constituency and no electoral backing to criticize Mr. Bennett. Nice try, YWN – Israel Desk.
BTW, Wallerstein is only half right. It is about ideology, but it is also about acting on the ideology. The status quo of saying one thing and doing another is what got Netanyahu his less-than-stellar electoral results in the first place.
If it turns out that Likud is the party perceived as trying to protect the yeshivos (and Feiglin suggested an alternative to drafting yeshiva boys – end conscription), the danger for Bayit Yehudi is that their constituency will decide that Likud is their natural home – in effect proving Feiglin correct. Remember by turning against the yeshivos, not only does Bennett alienate many of his own constituency (who are, by definition, also frum) but is risking political support for the settlements as a whole since if the hareidim ally with the left, support for settlements could be undermined. If Likud turns out to the party that is most committed to both settlements and to Torah (relative to Bayit Yehudi), who will vote for Bayit Yehudi?
It’s nice to see that there are still some normal D”L.