Reply To: Threading the Needle on Social Issues in the New Coalition

ujm: A generation (or two) ago, it was possible for the Chareidim to ally with the left-wing parties but that’s no long possible since:
1. The Israeli left is now dominated by parties for whom opposition to frumkeit is a defining feature (whereas the Labor party of Ben Gurion et al. was willing to tolerate Chareidim, albeit in the belief they would disappear over time). Indeed, most of the left now sees the Chareidim as the greatest threat to the Medinah.
2. While the Chareidi community is anything but democratic (small “d”), and is basically on oligarchy dominated the rabbanim (who tend to be left wing on economic issues, e.g., supporting welfare for the poor), the masses of the Chareidi community have been steadily become less inclined to follow what the rabbanim tell them in matters of politics, and the Chareidi “street” is increasingly anti-Arab. In an oversimplified way, the Chareidi rabbinim are “doves” but many if not most of Chareidi baal ha-battim are “hawks”.