Israeli Ultra Orthodox Parties Split From Settlers
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties are forming their own distinct political bloc.
Chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Yahadut HaTorah faction, Knesset member Eliezer Moses, aroused a storm on Aug. 7 in the ultra-Orthodox media when he went on the offensive against the settlers in an interview with the Kikar HaShabbat news website. "The Hebron Yeshiva is as or more important to us than the city of Hebron," Moses was quoted as saying in the interview headline. In the interview, Moses said that as the diplomatic process advances, the chances increase that ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and Yahadut HaTorah will join the government instead of the right-wing parties.
The interview with Moses left almost no mark outside the ultra-Orthodox media, even though it contains the seeds of a real political drama. True, Moses said what he did at a time that ultra-Orthodox communities were removed from the national priority map, and while several settlements were added to the list. But it would be a mistake to attribute his words only to this when — in fact — they reflect a deep conceptual change affecting the ultra-Orthodox leadership ever since the last elections.
The ultra-Orthodox repudiation of settler ideology can also have far-reaching ramifications on the size of the right-wing bloc, to the extent of affecting who will be the next prime minister. Moreover, the sharp turn to the left of the ultra-Orthodox parties is likely to give a significant boost to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
In the months that elapsed since the elections on Jan. 22, the ultra-Orthodox parties have undergone an accelerated process of disillusionment that began immediately after their banishment to the ranks of the opposition by their former ally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Likud chairman established his government with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and HaBayit HaYehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett, and the consequences for the ultra-Orthodox were disastrous: The rabbinical colleges' budgets were almost immediately slashed and a law was legislated requiring them to serve in the army. Thus, the removal of the ultra-Orthodox localities from the national priority map was only the last in a series of decrees that prompted ultra-Orthodox society to undergo painful soul-searching and reach a clear conclusion: The ultra-Orthodox are no longer beholden to right-wing interests and the settlements. That era is over.
