A meeting will be held between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and MK Yaakov Litzman and Moshe Gafne. While the meeting is dubbed a routine pre-Rosh Hashanah event, the political arena is abuzz with rumors that talks are underway to bring the chareidim into the coalition if Yesh Atid breaks from the coalition government. The prime minister invited the chareidi MKs for a meeting before yomtov.
Lapid has stated on numerous occasions that his Zero VAT Bill is a deal-breaker and if the bill is halted by the cabinet it will bring an end to the coalition. Lapid explained that while his party is not looking to break from the coalition, it will not hesitate to do so if compelled by the coalition’s actions. There are also mounting tensions between the two senior ministers surrounding the 2015 state budget.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
If Degel ha-Torah, Shas and Agudath Yisrael join the government in return for money and patronage, without getting a cancellation of conscription (or at least cancellation of the plan to arrest hareidim who refuse to report for service in the army), they would immediately lose all their support within the hareidi community (note that people who are strict in mitsvos but support zionism and army service never supported the “hareidi parties” to begin with). None of the parties involved want to create conditions under which the Eidah hareidis becomes a serious political force in Israel, which is what happen if the “hareidi” parties join a government that plans to arrest hareidim who don’t serve in the army.
However cosncription of hareidim has much support among Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu and especially Bayit Yehudi (which believes that the resulting ex-hareidi veterans will support Bayit Yehudi politically).
#1
Undoubtedly there is even a graver crisis than conscription (and surely money and patronage):
whether the people of israel will still remain jewish