(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
The young guard of the Labor Party, which today goes by the name Machane Tzioni, is not giving up on the Chareidi vote in the next Knesset elections.
As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with heads of Chareidi factions in Knesset to resolve the latest coalition crisis, Labor party leaders were working to persuade young chareidim to come on board and back the party.
MKs of the party point out how Labor has always maintained a relationship with the chareidim, and they are most welcome in the larty now. Newly-elected leader Avi Gabbai also promises to reach out to the Dati Leumi and Chareidi communities, with veterans of the party saying, “Labor is the natural partner of the chareidim, not Likud”.
During a gathering with Labor leaders, it was learned that Labor MK Dr. Nachman Shai is in shul every Shabbos, and Avi Gabbai leaves a yarmulke in his pocket. Clearly, the party may pull a few hundred or possibly thousands of votes from the chareidi parties in the next elections.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Labor = Socialists = free stuff = Chareidi vote.
More likely they are thinking about coalition politics. As long as Likud has the so-called hareidi parties in his pocket, no one else is able to form a government. If the hareidim could work with the remnants of the Labor party, it would be a “new ballgame”.
Since when did “a yarmulke in (his) [a] pocket” mean anything?
If Machane Tzioni really want votes, they should all start wearing yarmulkes!
same: If Machane Tzioni (a.k.a. Labor) want frum votes, they would need to show more respect for halacha, and oppose policies that use secularism to exclude religious Jews from the mainstream of Israeli economic life. As it is, the socialist view on welfare is a lot closer to how most frum Jews feel, and certainly closer than Likud’s economic policies. Labor could come out against conscription, and also for allow discrete minorities to have greater autonomy without government interference. However to appeal to hareidim, the socialists would be alienating a major part of their own “base” which is vehemently anti-religious.