The news in Israel is dominated with reported threats of the coalition breaking apart and electioneering by coalition and opposition MKs alike. Most experts feel the current administration is on its way out and it is likely that elections will be held in the spring of 2015.
Kikar Shabbos reports that a Shas party MK quoted anonymously warns the chareidim must be cautious for Yair Lapid is already working to blame the collapse on the coalition on the chareidim. For Lapid, this would set the stage for another national election with a hostile atmosphere against the chareidi tzibur which worked well for him last time.
A Degel Hatorah official quoted anonymously agrees, pointing out that Lapid would like nothing more than to blame the chareidim his failure to pass the Zero Value Added Tax bill and other legislation he promised to push through. He concluded “we want a new coalition and at the end of the day we will back the candidate endorsed by gedolei yisrael shlita for prime minister”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
lol,
sounds like a certain president blaming the other party
As the Chareidim are in the opposition (and are the second largest opposition block, second to to socialist parties), they are supposed to be trying to bring down the government. That’s what opposition parties do. If the nationalists parties in the government want to dump Lapid, all they have to do is end conscription.
“sounds like a certain president blaming the other party”
Well in the case of Obama, his blaming the Republicans for killing immigration reform in Congress is 100% accurate. The Senate passed a bipartisan bill 17 months ago but the Republicans refused to come up with a bill of their own, or even to hold hearings on the Senate bill.
The same is true for healthcare; the Republicans refuse to come up with an alternative to Obamacare.
I would not underestimate Lapid. There is nothing that voters like more than tax cuts and he is promising non-charedi voters a big one. He went from 12 MKs to 19 in the last week of the last election and that could easily recur again with some well timed charedi bashing. (Promises of irresponsible tax cuts and bashing of people who receive government benefits work in American elections and Lapid knows this.) And Rivlin will probably give either Lapid or the Labor leader (presumably Herzog) the first chance to form a government because Rivlin (correctly) sees the Jewish state bill as being a total public relations disaster for Israel and will do what he can to prevent a supporter from becoming PM.
Anyone really expect a politician to take responsibility for anything?