Comments on: Should We Eliminate Chareidi Parties?

By: Aryeh Zelasko

Aryeh Zelasko — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 10:03:00 +0000

The haters of Torah would see this as a victory and only intensify their efforts to destroy the Jewish people. Every political party exists for special interest groups. They come into existence because of the needs of a specific group. The large ones are coalitions of related interests groups. Seems most people have forgotten that the Likud was formed by the joining of Herut, the Liberals and a few smaller parties.

By: Gadolhadorah

Gadolhadorah — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:31:15 +0000

Eliminating Chareidi parties would ultimately require the growing Chareidi segment of the population to focus on a wider range of political issues and align themselves with secular yidden with whom they share priorities. There is more to life in EY than worrying about when daylight savings time starts or trying to micro mangage the lives of Israelis who want to go to the beach on shabbos or purchase chometz on pesach. Instead, focus on the need for reasonably priced housing, better health care, job training etc. which are shared concerns among ALL Israelis.

By: World News » Blog Archive » Should We Eliminate Chareidi Parties? – Yeshiva World News

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 23:07:38 +0000

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By: zionflag

zionflag — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:57:53 +0000

#4 There are parties that appeal to larger sectors of the country and include the needs of a majority of residents.

By: uneeq

uneeq — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:41:21 +0000

Why would any Charedi party agree to this? Granted, a Charedi politician will be able to cut deals with the mainstream parties. Though issues come up all the time that affect charedim, and without a threat of pulling out of a coalition, the charedi MK’s views are worthless until the next election.

The only thing that can be gained is that charedim will be voting for many issues, for which they are in return they give away 99% of their political clout. It is far much smarter for the charedi parties to start dealing with all of society’s issues and not just thier own..

By: akuperma

akuperma — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:29:12 +0000

#3 – In a proportional system, everyone is a “sector interest lobby” – that can be a feature or a bug. In all fairness, Jews traditionally tried to be all inclusive (meaning anyone who was part of the community was included in institutions) so it is logical that the Israelis chose proportional representation. However it does result in “sector” rather than “national interest” parties, and the coalitions are alliances of politicians rather than shaping one’s appeal to reach a broad swath of the voters.

By: zionflag

zionflag — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:13:31 +0000

“In the eyes of many Israelis, the Arab and chareidi politicians are viewed as representatives of sector interest lobbies, not politicians who are seeking to improve the country for all”.

WELL ISNT THIS TRUE? That the Chareidi party is a sector interest lobby. It is a belief of ALL Israelis and CHareidim also.

By: lazerc

lazerc — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 18:52:06 +0000

It would be ideal to eliminate charadi parties and just have parties that have everyone’s best interest at heart. But the reality of now is that there are those forces of evil (Merertz, yesh ahteed, labor, etc) therefore it is imperative that we have religious parties to protect the needs of religious people in Israel.

By: akuperma

akuperma — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 18:45:47 +0000

Arguably, if there were no hareidi parties, all the “secular” parties would need to appeal for hareidi votes, and would therefore cease being anti-hareidi. In effect, there would also be no anti-hareidi parties either. It would be similar to the United States, where both political parties need to appeal for religious votes and avoid appearing to be openly “anti-” anything.

To accomplish this in Israel, it would be necessary to switch to single member constiuencies, preferably with runoffs rather than the British “first past the post” system, which would force anyone running for the knesset to appeal for frum votes. The result might be fewer frum politicians, but more politicians anxious to do the bidding for the frum community.

However it would result in a shift on influence from the rabbanim to the “baal ha-habatim”. Less on army exemption, more on accomodation of frum soldiers. Less on yeshivos being supported, more on social welfare. Less concern with the perceived length of fasting on Yom Kippur, and more on people needing time to get places on Erev Shabbos.