The political upheaval inside Degel HaTorah is continuing days after veteran MKs Moshe Gafni and Uri Maklev were removed from the party’s Knesset slate, with Yated Ne’eman now launching a blistering attack against several aides accused of waging a behind-the-scenes campaign against the decision.
The unusually sharp article comes following widespread criticism over the manner in which Gafni and Maklev — two of Degel HaTorah’s most recognizable political figures for decades — were informed that their lengthy political careers were coming to an end.
Neither was summoned to a formal meeting to receive the decision. Instead, letters informing them of their removal were delivered late at night, with Gafni’s letter reportedly left in his mailbox after the messenger was unable to reach him.
The manner in which the decision was carried out sparked considerable criticism within the Chareidi community, including from figures associated with Degel HaTorah itself.
But Yated Ne’eman, Degel HaTorah’s official newspaper, is now directing much of its fire at a small number of aides and advisers who worked alongside the outgoing MKs.
The newspaper stressed that its criticism was not directed at all of their staff members, but at what it described as a “minority of known individuals” who allegedly organized opposition to replacing Gafni and Maklev.
According to Yated, after those aides learned that the longtime MKs could be replaced, they “launched a media incitement campaign and a public relations operation,” allegedly using the access and influence they had obtained through their positions.
The newspaper accused the individuals of having “harmed those who sent them and spat into the well from which they drink,” and alleged that they cooperated with media figures in an effort to undermine the party leadership.
Yated further accused them of participating in a “campaign of fabricated smears” against Degel HaTorah’s leadership and claimed that some were responsible for leaks during the highly sensitive negotiations surrounding the draft law and the status of bnei yeshivos.
The newspaper also pushed back against the widespread characterization of Gafni and Maklev’s departure as a humiliating “ouster,” arguing that the narrative was fueled in significant part by the aides and their associates.
According to Yated, the campaign was repeated so frequently that those involved eventually “began believing the stories themselves.”
That assertion comes despite criticism of the manner in which Gafni and Maklev were removed extending well beyond their own offices. Reports have indicated that senior members of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah had reservations about either the decision or the manner in which it was implemented.
Yated maintained that efforts had initially been made to reach an understanding under which the transition could take place respectfully while recognizing the decades of public service provided by Gafni and Maklev.
Those efforts, the newspaper charged, were met with an “orchestrated and brazen public campaign” by the aides and their allies.
Perhaps the most consequential portion of the Yated article, however, was an announcement of a significant new policy governing Degel HaTorah’s future Knesset representatives.
Beginning with the next Knesset term, every Degel HaTorah elected official will be required to obtain approval from the party’s rabbinical committee before hiring an aide, with each appointment reviewed individually.
The new requirement represents a significant expansion of oversight over Degel HaTorah’s elected officials. Until now, much of the internal battle centered around who would serve as the party’s representatives in the Knesset. Under the new system, the party leadership will also have a say over the individuals working directly inside each MK’s office.
Supporters of the move view the new system as a safeguard intended to prevent aides from developing independent centers of political power or acting contrary to the direction of the party’s rabbinic leadership.
The decision nevertheless comes amid an already intense internal debate over control of Degel HaTorah and the dramatic changing of the guard following the removal of two men who have represented the party for decades.
Rather than ending with the submission of Degel HaTorah’s new Knesset slate, the controversy surrounding Gafni and Maklev’s departure now appears to have opened an entirely new front — this time involving the people who worked closest to them.
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One Response
Politicians are playing politics – and people are surprised? Chareidi politicians are politicians – and people are surprised?
The party line has always been that representatives of this political party are wholly faithful to the “spiritual leaders” of the party, and are totally Mevatel their own Da’as to the “Da’as Torah” of those leaders – but that ignores the fact that these all, whether the leaders, representatives, or aides, are human beings with human nature. This ugly mess of a story is damaging to the party because it flies in the face of the myth of infallibility of the leadership – after all, if they’re so perfect in their decisions, then how could some of their closest aides oppose their decision to change representatives?
an Israeli Yid