MK (Bayit Yehudi) Zevulun Kalfa admits life with Yesh Atid as a coalition partner is not easy. Kalfa told Kol Berama Radio that while Yesh Atid and his party signed a cooperation agreement; there is no doubt that the party has far more in common with the chareidim than the pro-secular party.
That being said, Bayit Yehudi continues in the coalition despite the flow of anti-religious legislation. From the Bayit Yehudi perspective, the party’s presence in the coalition has prevented many anti-religious bills from being voted into law and therefore it is critical for the dati leumi party to remain in the coalition.
In a recent interview with Kol Chai Radio Bayit Yehudi MK Rabbi Nissim Slomiansky, who chairs the Knesset Finance Committee, explained it is imperative for the party to remain. He stated that no less than 39 anti-religious bills were defeated by Bayit Yehudi.
However at present, there are fears that the party will be supporting Yesh Atid’s Surrogacy Bill which would permit to’eva couples to bring children into the world. Initially, Bayit Yehudi opposed the bill, leading to Finance Minister (Yesh Atid) freezing funds for yishuvim throughout Yehuda and Shomron to pressure the party to support the bill.
Amid rumors that Bayit Yehudi is now going to back the bill, HaGaon HaRav Dov Lior Shlita met with bayit Yehudi faction members and instructed them to oppose the bill at all costs, possibly even breaking from the coalition government is required to do so.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Likud and Bayit Yehudi could have formed a coalition with the hareidi parties. They still can. Indeed it will be much easier to do so now, since the hareidi parties will demand nothing beyond exemption of conscription (as opposed to being focused on patronage – it’s cheaper to bribe someone whose only goal is to be left alone).
Not likely,
Litzman has openly said that under no circumstances will yahadut hatorah join the existing coalition if yesh atid were to leave. Gafni wasnt quick to come to definite conclusions but also said that it would require other consesions besides for revising the conscription law.
They would rather have to go to elections, because they have chances of gaining a seat.
Shas is more likely to want to join,for political reasons, for one because they are more likely to shink than grow.o
HaBayit HaYehudi is fundamentally different from both the charedi parties and from Yesh Atid. On certain issues the charedi parties have more in common with it and on others Yesh Atid is closer to it. With the current focus on the economy and on the issue of bringing charedim into military/national service, the coalition with Yesh Atid is the obvious choice. And in the initial stages of the implementation of the new draft bill, the charedi parties will not be viable coalition partners. As for the bills that Yesh Atid has been presenting that are contradictory to Dati Leumi hashkafa, so far HaBayit HaYehudi has had no problem blocking or rewriting them.
I can definitely understand Habayit Hayehudi having more in common with Yesh Atid. Pretty much the only thing that Habayit Hayehudi has in common with Haredi parties is their stances on religious issues. The government does a lot more than that.
Habayit Hayehudi is very capitalist (something I like). Personally, I can sit in a beit midrash for hours with Haredim, but I will go crazy trying to pass a budget with them. Being that Habayit Hayehudi and Yesh Atid are in favor of budget cuts and free market economy, it is much easier to sit with them than Haredi parties, who are more welfare and socially liberal on the whole.
Bayit Yehudi tried to join with Shas before Lapid and was rebuffed. If they were to leave the coalition, Labor would take their place and it would lead to disaster. The best option is to somehow force new elections. That would reduce Lapid’s role and would hopefully unite the Frum sectors for a change.
“hareidi parties will demand nothing beyond exemption of conscription”
yea right, plus Gelt Gelt & Gelt.