The battle in Torah Judaism that may decide Netanyahu's fate in the upcoming elections

The two factions that make up the party, the Lithuanian Degal HaTorah and the Hasidic Agudat Israel, are in complete dissociation following a battle for places and an ideological debate over control of the ultra-Orthodox education system.

Without a breakthrough, the two factions may run alone - a situation that may give Netanyahu's opponents a significant advantage

Yaki Adamker

04/09/2022

Sunday, 04 September 2022, 07:00 Updated: 07:39

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In the video: Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknopf in an interview with Licky Adamker in the Walla Studio!

(Still photo: Reuven Castro)

Less than two weeks before the closing of the lists in the elections for the 25th Knesset, a battle within Torah Judaism may decide Benjamin Netanyahu's political future and thwart the attempt of the right-wing bloc led by him to obtain 61 mandates in favor of forming the next government.

This is a battle between the two factions that make up the party, the Lithuanian faction Degal HaTorah and the Hasidic faction Agudat Israel.

Both have been in complete disconnection for the past week due to an ideological debate over the control of the ultra-orthodox education system as well as due to a battle for places, representation and positions in the party.

If there is no significant breakthrough in the coming week, the two factions will run alone, and the right-wing bloc estimates that at least one of them will not pass the blocking percentage.

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Seeking to keep the first place on the list, MK Moshe Gafni (Photo: Flash 90, Yonatan Zindel)

At the center of the struggle between the factions is Belez Hasidism, the second largest Hasidic sect in Israel represented in the party by MK Israel Eichler. Its spiritual patron, the Rebbe of Belez, Rabbi Yishchar Dov Rokah, has been leading a move for the past year to join a new study track of the Ministry of Education, within the framework of which white institutions At the elementary age of the Hasids, they will receive full budgeting from the state subject to the Liva studies and the students' achievements. The

move provokes opposition from the "Flag of the Torah" and its new spiritual leader - Rabbi Gershon Edelstein. Sources in the Lithuanian faction have raised the concern that the Ministry of Education will interfere with the curriculum in ultra-orthodox education, and they blame the Hasidism in "damaging the independence of ultra-orthodox education purely for money".

Alongside the ideological debate, there is also a persistent debate between the two factions in the party over the first place in the joint list for the Knesset and the top position the party will receive after the elections, if it joins the government.

MK Moshe Gafni, chairman of the Torah banner, wants to keep the first place for himself, but Agudat Israel opposes it.

With his demand, Gafni is trying to violate an agreement signed between the parties on the eve of the previous elections, for the 24th Knesset, according to which a representative of Agudat Israel will head the list.

Trying to reconcile the parties without success, Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Reuven Castro)

The disconnect between the two factions and the fear of a separate run has become one of Netanyahu's main headaches in recent days, just before the closing of the lists and the start of the campaign.

The head of the opposition and the chairman of the Likud tried to reconcile the parties but was unsuccessful, among other things due to the opposition of Rabbi Edelstein's household members who ordered the members of the Knesset to stop him because "there is no place for him to interfere in ideological matters".

A senior member of the right wing said that "Netanyahu is very afraid". "He understands that this is a real event and apart from prayers he doesn't have much to do.

He saw polls that a separate run takes the right-wing bloc away from 61 to numbers we didn't know before, and the need to run a campaign in such a situation is unnecessary.

It will be a hopeless event."

A separate run of the two factions could change the political map and give the bloc of Netanyahu's opponents the victory with the formation of the next government or at the very least the possibility of forcing a unity government on Netanyahu with very low conditions for him.

In addition, such a situation will deepen the ultra-Orthodox rift and drive away voters from Torah Judaism at a time when the ultra-orthodox leadership has already weakened.

"My assessment," says MK Meir Proosh of the Israel Association, "that the final decision will be to run together."

The demand to run separately is from the beginning not ours but that of the Torah flag, but we will also be ready for such a scenario."

• 2022 election

Tags

• Elections

• Torah Judaism

• Moshe Gafni