Threading the Needle on Social Issues in the New Coalition

Most of the opposition consists of drop-outs from Likud, and if the religious parties get to demanding, Likud has alternatives. The reverse isn’t true. If Likud says no to the “religious parties” they have no one to turn to since the opposition parties are all anti-religious. While the secular nationalists (other than Lieberman) have minimal problems with giving money to religious groups, or special gifts that don’t hurt their secular constituents, asking for the political leadership to persecute some of their secular constituency is probably to much. Remember that at this time the major opposition parties are not so much opposed to Likud, but are in oppositions out of personal dislike of Netanyahu, and Bibi is old and probably not likely to be around much longer, and the next Likud prime minister will be able and willing to re-assimilate the center-right opposition, and won’t need overdemanding religious junior partners.

akuperma: The reverse side of your point is that the Chareidi religious parties can enter a coalition with the Left, and leave Likud out in the cold.

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”.

akuperma: I think you’re overstating things. The Israeli Left, I don’t think, is more anti-religious per se, than the Israeli right. And the Israeli Chareidi public, despite whatever personal opinions they might Harbor regarding Arabs or the general political scene, at the end of the day they still take their cues from their Rabbonim and vote accordingly, as instructed.

Israeli right includes a lot of “masorti” that includes Sephardim who even if not fully observant are pro-datiim. Others might be economic and politically right-wing and, and the same time, “not religious”. Left includes commies and former commies that are built on ANTI-religious ideology. ANTI is different from “NOT” and “PRO”