Skip to main content

What is behind Likud mayors’ secular moves?

Are the secular initiatives — operating buses on the Sabbath — by the mayors of Ramat Gan and Modi'in, both from the Likud, meant to neutralize Avigdor Liberman’s claim that the Likud is bowing to the ultra-Orthodox?
GettyImages-159896767.jpg
Read in 

Issues of diplomacy and national security such as the Iranian nuclear threat are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s preferred battlefield during election campaigns. But in the current campaign another agenda is ruling the day for now: issues of religion and state, which isn't in Netanyahu’s comfort zone. The man who dragged him there is Avigdor Liberman, chairman of Yisrael Beitenu, who refused to join the coalition Netanyahu was forming if the enlistment law was not passed in its original form, and thus led to the dispersal of the 21st Knesset and to new elections in September.

On July 15, the alleged details of the coalition agreements between Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties were reported. These agreements had been reached after the April 9 elections and before the 21st Knesset was dispersed. According to the report, Netanyahu agreed that allowing a permit for public works on the Sabbath would be coordinated with the Chief Rabbinate and that a softer version of the enlistment law, favored by the ultra-Orthodox parties, would be implemented.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.