Last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu called Agudat Yisrael Chairman MK Yaakov Litzman. Litzman was sitting with a group of businessmen in his offices, and Netanyahu was on the line. Netanyahu is trying to recalculate his course vis-à-vis the Haredi parties. He is constantly in contact with the heads of the Haredi parties. This time, Netanyahu asked to find out if elections would be held, whether the Haredi would recommend him to the president of the state to form the government.
Litzman shouted at him, the decibels rose and Bibi remained silent. Later, one of Litzman's men would tell me: "Every Sabbath has a Motzai Shabbat. Now we are before the Third Jewish Lent's Birkat Hamazon" and Netanyahu is trying to see what the price will be on Motzai Shabbat for Haredi Judaism. There is great anger and the Haredi parties are trying to find an alternative candidate, someone who has a good chance. The goal is to keep Bibi in the opposition in the next Knesset. There is no joy like joy for the Jews.
The more Netanyahu talks to the heads of the ultra-Orthodox parties, the greater the crisis becomes. He only needs to read the communications logs of the ultra-Orthodox sector to understand that Bibi is really not the king of Israel. Netanyahu systematically excludes the ultra-Orthodox media from him. The last meeting I had with him was about three years ago. Netanyahu invited the political and diplomatic reporters of the ultra-Orthodox sector. It was a short meeting. He sat with us for half an hour and said at the end that he was happy to meet them, and in the future he would hold meetings and conduct interviews with reporters of the ultra-Orthodox sector. Netanyahu did not plan in advance to keep his commitment, and none of us believed him, especially since the things he told us were devoid of content and meaning. He talked about his son, who was a Bible scholar, and about his grandfather, who was a scholar, something along the lines of "Don't look at me like that, my grandfather was a rabbi too.".
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Since then, Bibi has been completely disconnected from the Haredi media. With the exception of messages to the media, none of us have met Netanyahu for a private conversation or a briefing. However, the main turning point and understanding of the problem Netanyahu finds himself in gave rise to an interview on the Haredi radio station 'Kol Brama'. The opening of the winter session and the Knesset are draining many laws that are shaking the coalition ship and threatening to break it in the deep waters of Israeli politics. Netanyahu has domestic troubles within the Likud and external troubles between the Yesh Atid movement and the Jewish Home. And Netanyahu finds time for himself and is interviewed on the radio station Kol Brama. No media outlet accepted this interview, not even the major media channels in Israel. The newscast had to make do with selected excerpts from his speech given in the plenary session several hours earlier. And Kol Brama praised a live interview in which Netanyahu not only spoke but was also asked.
Senior figures in Netanyahu's office tell me that there is indeed a calculation of a new path. Netanyahu is aware of his situation within the Haredi sector. He knows, hears, and even reads that the attitude towards him is worse than towards Lapid and Bennett. If he does not change his approach now and immediately, his situation will only deteriorate from bad to worse. His office has internalized that it is no longer possible to abandon the media arena only to Haredi members of Knesset without giving an appropriate response, and as part of a new work concept, Netanyahu is going to invest in the Haredi.
Not an investment at the level of changing laws, not budgetary benefits, and not the omission of the criminal clause. Netanyahu will move from a state of ignoring to a state of dialogue. The change will be more meetings with the heads of the Haredi parties, and more and more attempts to convey messages through the Haredi communication tools. Netanyahu constantly repeats a constant mantra: I wanted it, it was Bennett Lapid and Lieberman who vetoed it. They didn't want you.
Netanyahu relies on short memory, and our public is confronted with Netanyahu's decrees every day on groceries, the cost of living, housing, every 20th of the month with a meager child allowance, the problems of the army and the draft decree. It is not enough to talk to the leaders of the Haredi sector and give interviews to Haredi media outlets. Netanyahu must take action and until he moves to the stage of action in the Haredi public, Bibi is synonymous with a curse.
The conversion crisis
On Sunday evening, the leaders of the ultra-Orthodox parties were certain that the conversion storm would also be behind them. Deri Gafni and Litzman quietly held talks with Arab Knesset members with the aim of opposing the conversion law. The ultra-Orthodox proposal to the Arabs was: Why would you add more Jews to the world? The Arabs were convinced after reaching various agreements on a number of laws in which they would succeed in mobilizing the ultra-Orthodox.
Prime Minister Netanyahu made a mockery of the speech, telling the Haredim that he would oppose passing the law, but in reality he sent his submitters to submit it through the Knesset. By doing so, Netanyahu thought that he would come out well with both the Haredim and his Reform and Conservative friends. However, from Sunday night to Monday morning, a lot of water flowed in the Jordan. And the Arabs were summoned to a meeting with Education Minister Shai Piron, where they were promised classrooms and other goodies.
The Arabs changed direction and the Haredim were left to fight against the law together with the Jewish Home MKs. Inside the committee hall, the debate between the MKs took place, and outside the committee hall, the ones pulling the strings stood. Farah Lerner, the Prime Minister's advisor, spoke with MK Yariv Levin, and tried to see how the damage could be minimized. Elkin arrived at the scene and Hoshea Gottlieb, Tzipi Livni's chief of staff, spoke to her on the phone in an attempt to explain to her what was happening and to try to lead his own move. Yair Lapid's advisor and Shai Piron's assistant, Shibi Froman, who looks more like a force in the youth organization of the hills than an advisor to Minister Mish Atid, were also not left behind.
Committee Chairman Rotem led the discussion to adjourn at 1:30. Everyone knew that Haredi Judaism had suffered a setback. Whether the law goes to the Knesset or goes to a decision-making committee in the government, Netanyahu will come out bald. The Haredi are not willing to hear about the government's proposal either. They will not swallow the pill in the movement, but it will not pass to Netanyahu silently. And the Reformers are really angry with Netanyahu.
If the law passes through the government based on the proposal of the decision-makers, then Bennett can record another victory for himself, but the members of the National Union will be forced to resign from the government, and this is in accordance with the opinion of their rabbis. Surely you are wondering what Deputy Minister Ben Dahan, the darling of the section, and Naftali Bennett's favorite student, will do? So he has already said that he does not understand why the Chief Rabbis did not continue the meetings with Rabbis Druckman and Drori. And you probably believe him. So it is that the Rabbi of Petah Tikva, Rabbi Micha Halevi Shlita, made it clear that he is sorry that Ben Dahan is not accurate. The esteemed rabbi is careful with his language. I am willing to translate his words for you in clear language. Ben Dahan is lying.
Minister of Education
The 19th Knesset is home to many characters, some more entertaining, some less so. Some of them even serve as members of Knesset. Some of them have gone too far and managed to infiltrate the government. One of these characters is Shai Piron, Minister of Education. A character full of internal contradictions, who makes sure that the title of Rabbi is attached to his name.
Piron began the week by claiming that it is impossible for people who do not serve in the IDF to determine the process of entering the Jewish people. What exactly is the only connection between his words and determining the conversion procedures? The desire to once again arouse hatred and hostility towards the Haredi public.
Can we accept the fact that the head of the Ministry of Health is a woman whose knowledge and understanding of health and medicine is close to zero? How can we accept the fact that the Supreme Court is occupied by an Arab judge named Salim Gibran, who does not stand for the Song of Hope and did not serve in the IDF at all, but this does not prevent anyone from appointing Gibran as a judge in the Supreme Court and chairman of the Central Elections Committee? The man sits in the highest judicial instance in Israel and decides on the interpretation of laws and the establishment of new laws on various issues.
Is it possible that a person who did not serve in the IDF will establish new orders here in the country? Gibran's friend, Judge Elyakim Rubinstein, wrote about him, "From daily correspondence for nearly eight years, in our joint work, I can testify to his integrity as a judge and to his being a loyal citizen of the State of Israel who represents the country with honor and success abroad, and there will be many like him.".
Gibran is entitled to protection and the Haredim are not. Firon has not learned to accommodate the work because minorities in Israel also have something to say on many issues. And soon he will have to learn that it is precisely those Haredim who will determine the order of the day. A type of significant learning.
If we are just examining the achievements of the Minister of Education, it is enough to take a look at the data provided by the Ministry of Education itself through the placement tests. In 2014, there was a 11% increase in cases of violence compared to 6% in 2017. Perhaps Shai Piron will concern himself with the affairs of his ministry rather than with issues in which he has little understanding.
The law for trampling on the dignity of the rabbinate
If we examine in depth the activities of the Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, we find that the Deputy Minister, who is the darling of the department, is busy day and night with plans on how to restrict the steps of the rabbis. While in every ministry the minister is busy on the path to develop, improve and add, the Deputy Minister is busy with activities of prevention, reduction and harm.
On Monday, he submitted the shameful bill that is supposed to turn all rabbis into 'rabbis by appointment.' Ben Dahan wants to take us back to the dark days of Russia when rabbis were appointed to be the mouthpiece of the Tsar. Ben Dahan's law would establish a special committee that could remove rabbis. The committee would include a representative from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, a dayan appointed by the minister, a legal advisor also appointed by the minister, a type of committee that is more defined as a committee by appointment than a committee devoid of political interests.
The deputy minister wants to return to the days when he served as director general of the rabbinical courts. Back then, he would lie in wait for judges who were late and deal with paper clips that had miraculously disappeared from the rabbinical courts. His policy in the ministry is characterized more as a government official than as a policymaker. This bill is Ben Dahan's strong desire to deal with trifles and does not allow him to free himself and work to upgrade religious services.
The discussion held on Wednesday morning in the Knesset's Interior Committee also revealed Ben Dahan's face as a political business who seeks to deal only with political appointments and the narrow considerations that guide him. It's a shame that he doesn't take responsibility for what happens in his office.
