At the convening of the 19th Knesset’s summer session on April 22, 2013, the chairman of Yesh Atid, Finance Minister Yair Lapid, stood at the podium and took a swipe at ultra-Orthodox lawmakers: “The only thing that has happened, Knesset member Gafni, is that you are not in the coalition,” Lapid jeered at Moshe Gafni, the outgoing chairman of the Finance Committee and Yahadut HaTorah member, in response to his interjections. “It’s called democracy, Knesset member Gafni. And I’m not asking you what I can and can’t talk about. I don’t take orders from his honor. The state has stopped taking orders from his honor. We are sick and tired of taking orders from his honor.” Two years later, on April 29, the tables were turned. This time it was Knesset member Gafni who lashed out at Knesset member Lapid: “Yair Lapid is no longer relevant. He can say whatever he wants. I am very happy to say that the state is done taking orders from him.”

Moshe Gafni’s cynicism is probably the less hurtful part for Lapid. Rather, Gafni’s party joining the emerging coalition augurs the dismantling, one by one, of all of Lapid’s achievements in the outgoing government, beginning with the conversion to Judaism reforms over which he labored, through the cuts he made in the yeshiva budgets and to the historic reform in military recruitment of the ultra-Orthodox, which he led, legislating mandatory military service for yeshiva (rabbinical college) students. This is why April 29 was a festive day for the ultra-Orthodox. Even now, almost a week later, the sense in the community, as expressed in synagogues and conversations in hallway, is one of tremendous victory. For the first time, there is a feeling on the ultra-Orthodox street that its lost honor (and funding) has been restored.

“We can finally raise our heads,” said Shlomo Zalman Eisenbach of the ultra-Orthodox settlement town of Beitar Ilit. “In recent years, we were humiliated, persecuted to an unprecedented extent, and now we are in government, and Lapid is out. I personally would have preferred joining a left-wing government or a unity government, then we would not have been attacked as much. Under the [Benjamin] Netanyahu government, as the weak link [in the coalition chain], we will be attacked incessantly, but it’s preferable to being hung out to dry in the opposition.”

Eisenbach is not the only one who believes the ultra-Orthodox are more vulnerable in a right-wing government. Throughout the weeks of coalition negotiations, the ultra-Orthodox made every effort to promote contacts with Zionist Camp leader Isaac Herzog to forge a unity government. The Yahadut HaTorah and Shas parties assume that in a right-wing government, every budget allocation to the ultra-Orthodox education system will come under close scrutiny. “Historically speaking, in left-wing governments the ultra-Orthodox always got much more, and no one said anything,” Eisenbach stressed. “My sense is that we are paying the price of the hatred for Bibi in the media.”