Shas and Degel Hatorah representatives in Elad are not about to make life easy for Mayor Yisrael Porush, who managed to get reelected despite their harsh objections and tenacious efforts to have him disqualified. However, now that he is in his second term, the mayor has to pass the city’s budget.

The two chareidi parties created a bloc, preventing the passage of the city’s budget with their combined nine councilmen. As a result of the council’s failure to pass the 2019 budget, many institutions, including shuls, will not receive allocated funding.

It is reported that Porush’s team has tried negotiating an alternate budget with Degel Hatorah in recent days, and other than torpedoing the mayor’s budget, they have done nothing, and they have not submitted an alternative budget that meets their needs.

Should the council fail to approve the city budget a number of times, it may lead to dissolving the council. In addition, if the budget is delayed for an extended period of time, Minister of the Interior, in this case Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri, may intervene and appoint a committee to run the city’s affairs.

Clearly, both Shas and Degel are putting the running of the city’s affairs aside to advance their primary mission of pay back, showing Porush that while he managed to get elected despite their objections, they can paralyze City Hall if they wish to do so. This is another example of the ongoing feud that began during municipal elections, during which time Shas and Degel united, leaving Agudas Yisrael and its Shlomei Emunim faction in the cold. Porush is a member of the Shlomei Emunim faction.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)