The confrontation in the coalition against the backdrop of Interior Minister Moshe Arbel's announcement that municipal elections will be held at the end of January is coming to a stage.
As first reported by Israel Hayom, the Religious Zionist party, which opposes the date of the elections, strongly attacks Arbel and his Shas party and demands that a law be passed that will bypass his decision. The reason for the opposition: hundreds of candidates for city councils on the party lists who are currently serving in the reserves, who will not be able to conduct a proper election campaign without being released in the coming days.
The election also tears up past alliances
Despite the inherent differences between religious Zionists and ultra-Orthodox society, particularly with regard to service in the IDF, this was not a source of contention within the coalition. Even when the ultra-Orthodox factions demanded the passage of a draft law granting a sweeping exemption to yeshiva students, Religious Zionism expressed no objections, even though ideologically they see military service as a religious value that should not be dispensed with. But the municipal elections are shuffling the cards and raising the controversy over the draft to discordant tones.
Minister of the Interior Moshe Arbel. Religious Zionism is outraged, photo: Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90
Religious Zionism accuses Shas of promoting elections during a war because it has almost no candidates in the various cities currently serving under Order 8. On the other hand, in Religious Zionism, they claim, there are hundreds of servants, and no less than 68% of the candidates and officials in the election headquarters are now being drafted into the reserves because of the war.
Arbel's statement that he had agreed with the head of the IDF that any candidate who wanted to be released could do so, is treated with great anger. "What kind of message is it that masses of people wearing knitted yarmulkes will now inform their units that they want to be released because they have elections in the municipality?" says a source in Religious Zionism.
The anger on this issue is not only against Shas. In fact, they say, all the parties in the Knesset act according to political interest and not according to substantive considerations, which simply does not make sense to hold elections in time of war.
The Likud opposes postponing the elections mainly because of the incumbent mayors. According to the law, mayors are exempt from reserve duty, so none of them was drafted. In order to gain an advantage over others, it is good for them that the elections be held now and they are pressuring the prime minister and members of the Likud faction to leave the date on the date set by Arbel and not postpone.
Religious Zionism is angry at everyone - "there is no greater hypocrisy than this"
In Torah Judaism, like Shas, there are no candidates who received Order 8, so it is good for them too that the elections will be held now. What about the left? Religious Zionism also criticizes them, saying that the fact that they do not have a high percentage of reservists should not have changed the fact that this is an affront to democracy. Because it is clear that a candidate who chooses to continue serving in the reserves will not be able to run a real campaign, which will help the other contenders against him.
And not only did they have to protest against harming democracy, but also against Arbel's statement that the candidates could be released. "For years, Yair Lapid has been talking about the draft, and not only he but also Benny Gantz and even Merav Michaeli, and now when we go to a move that will cause a mass release from the reserves, they fill their mouths with water. They were the first to protest a statement by a Shas minister that candidates could leave their units, abandon the battlefield, and go home. And here they are silent. There is no greater hypocrisy than this."
Yair Lapid. Accused by Religious Zionism of "hypocrisy", photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Elections for chief rabbis are also entering the cauldron of municipal elections. Shas has a clear interest in these elections due to two possible candidates on its behalf, but in order to hold rabbinical elections, municipal elections must first be held. This is due to the fact that the 25 mayors of the large cities and 6 of the heads of the large councils are part of the electoral body of the chief rabbis. Postponing municipal elections will inevitably lead to postponement of elections for the Chief Rabbinate, something Shas is not interested in.
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