Sunday’s headlines in the ultra-Orthodox Yated Neeman newspaper looked like they could have been lifted from Yedioth Ahronoth or Haaretz, papers known for being critical of the government. They came as a surprise, as for years the paper has been identified with the group most loyal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The People v. the Government” and “Economic Rage in the Streets,” it read, completed with quotes from anti-Netanyahu demonstrators.
The paper reflects the views of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox leadership in Israel, and it is angry. Attacks on the government began a week earlier, when Knesset member Moshe Gafni, political leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox faction, said that if the government decides to shut down the ultra-Orthodox yeshivas, he would recommend that his party’s rabbinical leadership end its partnership with the government.
