This is a diary of the Haredi parties. The top brass are probably already imagining the impending political crisis, and the moment when Benjamin Netanyahu will invite them to save his government, which collapsed after the withdrawal of the Jewish Home. If it withdraws.
In the imagination of the ultra-Orthodox MKs, the leather armchair in which they will sit around the government table, adorned with powerful positions, is already looming. Perhaps the squabbles over the Finance Committee are also already looming.
So there you have it. Things are not as rosy as they appear through ultra-Orthodox glasses.
• Political crisis? Bennett threatens: "If Israeli Arabs are released – we will resign""
First, the facts: This morning, a faction meeting of the Jewish Home was held, a hasty meeting considering it is being held on a Friday, the eve of Passover. After all, the faction's MKs are tossed around like the rest of us in the whirlwind of preparations for the holiday, some as men helping out at home, and there are also female MKs who bear the brunt of the burden.
Nothing new came out of the faction meeting. What was good news was that there was support for the statement issued last night by the party's chairman, Minister Naftali Bennett: If Arab-Israeli terrorists are released - we will withdraw from the government. Period.
Some members of the faction apparently breathed a sigh of relief, and planned how they would issue the PR statement that would accompany such a resignation. "The release was the straw that broke the camel's back. We were already in favor of resignation with the enactment of the conscription law and with the harassment of the Haredi public.".
True or false, in the future they will use these statements against the Haredi public, when they seek revenge on the national-religious public (not that this is the right thing to do, revenge is an ugly thing) in the 'Haredi' Finance Committee or any other office that falls into their hands as loot.
But for them too, these are false hopes.
Yes, you don't retire that quickly, and giving up leather chairs and high-powered offices isn't easy. No one does it easily. Certainly not Naftali Bennett.
The official announcement was made just after they left the faction meeting. ""The Jewish Home faction decided to adopt Bennett's threatening statement from last night.".
In a conversation with a senior party official, he insists that "the threat is definitely serious," and that if terrorists with Israeli citizenship are released, the faction will withdraw.
But I would suggest to all the black and/or pink prophets to take a moment to breathe. Who knows Naftali Bennett's prime minister, the man who is stressed, the one who folds in the face of any threat, even in the face of a gun loaded with blank bullets.
The Americans haven't said the last word yet, and it will be some time before they open the door to Jonathan Pollard's prison cell. And who knows how Abu Mazen, the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, will escape at the last minute. After all, one sentence, with one reservation, is enough to blow up the deal and break things all over again.
Senior Likud officials did well to respond to the threat with "Don't threaten - resign." But no such response has yet been heard from Netanyahu himself. In my opinion, it won't be heard anytime soon.
In the face of threats of coalition shake-up, Netanyahu used to fold in the past. There is no reason why he won't do so now. The man who, faced with the harsh public-Haredi criticism of the reception he received in Kfar Chabad, ran to find interviewers and fell into the lap of the magazine 'Beit Mashiach' (where his advisors will explain about ratings considerations and media respectability) - will probably also fall into the lap of Naftali Bennett.
It is more likely that Netanyahu will fold than that Naftali Bennett will find a ladder to climb down from the tree.
And if the unexpected happens (it won't happen, it won't happen) - and Netanyahu develops a stable backbone, we can always come down from the tree and find excuses for why we didn't resign in the end.
And to all those dreaming of a different coalition future in the near future - get off the rooftops.
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