It would appear that Shas leader Eli Yishai is preparing himself and others for the possibility of not being included in the new coalition. The party leader released statement that Shas will not betray its constituents or its values, and if need be, the party will remain in the opposition, explaining “We are not afraid of sitting in the opposition”.
Yishai explains that from his perspective, once Yesh Atid and Bayit HaYehudi sign onto the coalition, Shas’ inclusion is far less likely. He then turned to Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, criticizing the fact that they are political novices and are making grave errors as coalition talks continue. Yishai praised his party’s efforts over the years towards maintaining the Jewish character of the nation, and the advances made by the Housing Ministry which it controlled; vowing that he and his colleagues will continue such efforts as members of the coalition or opposition.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
When was the last time that Shas was in the opposition?
Yes, Shas will probably be in the next opposition thanks to the fact that Bennet decided to join force with the anti-dati Lapid and threw the Chareidim under the bus. Think the Chareidim will remember this next time somebody proposes another “disengagement”?
this is a great picture , however you don’t know who is in charge and that is a great problem
Kanoi, #2, I hope the Chareidim will realize that this is not about nekama, or other political considerations.
It would be a breath of fresh air, and supremely satisfying, to see somebody, anybody, realize that this is about principles and beliefs and people’s lives. Next time somebody proposes another “disengagement”, as you mention, I hope that the Chareidim do what’s right for the Jewish people. It will be very sad if they base their response on political bickering and/or where they stand to gain the most financially.
#2 – The D”L community remembers what ALREADY happened in the last disengagement, and how countless times before and since, in matters large and small, charedi leaders and politicians have thrown them under the bus for the sight of a shekel – or for the mere pleasure of it. While many D”Ls maintain warm relationships with many individual charedim they realize that, with but a few notable exceptions, the charedi power structure in E”Y couldn’t care less about them. While they feel kinship with the charedi tzibbur, their expectations from the charedi power structure could hardly be lower.
#2 – As #4 says, is politics only a matter of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”? I’d hope that as Frum people, we’d expect our representatives to do what’s right, regardless of who else is voting for that position. The Chareidi parties’ statements that they’ll vote with the Israeli Left to uproot Jews from their homes just because Bayit Yehudi opposes such moves shows just how shallow such Chareidi parties are.
an Israeli Yid
The Israeli Haredi world has only itself to blame for the predicament we find ourselves in. We’ve had many years of political power when we could have worked closely with the dati leumi community to strengthen the Jewish nature of Israel. Where is the Ahavas Yisroel in our attitude to Dati Leumi Jews & non religious Israelis? If we protect our communities values by causing chillul Hashem, losing neshamas that we could have brought close, then what is our learning for? After all, it is we who talk of “hate” not them! If we sit here in Israel saying we wish it had never come about & with our newspapers talking about Jews (us) and Israelis, while Hashem has granted Malchus Yisroel over the land, are we ke’ilu Bnei Yisroel weeping at the reports of the meraglim? It is time for a sea change in the direction our community is going in – instead of getting hot under the collar over more and more extreme separation of genders, we need to start thinking of Klal Yisroel and of the neshamas we are pushing away from Torah in our effort to strengthen our own hashkafa. If we had our way, there’d only be one son at the seder not four!