The loud argument recorded in the Knesset Dec. 4 between members Adi Koll of Yesh Atid and Ayelet Shaked of HaBayit HaYehudi focused media attention on the personal fight between the two and the analysis accompanying it, according to which the political alliance between the leaders of their parties, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, is closer than ever to its end. But beyond the political question, the topic of the fight has unfortunately been pushed aside, in what is yet more proof of the dream of the new politics, which promised to abandon the old political wheeling and dealing and work for social justice, being deferred.

The Lapid-Bennett coalition had an excellent opportunity to pass a bill introduced by Koll, in the spirit of the values of universal equality, which seeks to grant same-sex couples with children tax benefits equal to those of straight parents. Ostensibly, this isn’t a dramatic piece of legislation that changes the way of the world, but merely a cosmetic change to existing income tax laws that is meant to correct a gross injustice. For a moment it looked like HaBayit HaYehudi intends to be a part of this necessary correction, since it doesn’t contradict the right-wing ideological worldview of the party, and doesn’t impact the values of Jewish law.

But HaBayit HaYehudi changed course at the last moment. Shaked was sent to torpedo the bill and bury it along with the party’s election promise of a younger and fresher approach and of an enlightened, equal and civic-minded worldview. It turns out that contrary to the party’s election slogan, nothing new can start when Minister of Housing Uri Ariel, known for his homophobic stance, succeeds in forcing his views on Bennett and Shaked. They were so convincing in their electoral campaign that even avowed secularists with center and left-leaning views were enticed to compromise their diplomatic positions and vote for them.

And if there was a moment that revealed this misrepresentation and showed the true face of HaBayit Hayehudi, it seems it was Knesset member Koll’s outburst, when she found out that her bill was blocked.