Ultra-Orthodox to the Rescue?

There is stated willingness on the part of the Arab parties, who hold 19 seats, to join an Arab-Jewish unity government. The opposition parties include the Democrats, who wish to partner with the Arab parties, Naftali Bennett, who has already formed a government with the Arabs, Gadi Eisenkot, who holds the largest share of opposition seats and is widely considered to be an honest pragmatist, and a former Likud hawk named Avigdor Liberman.

For the ethno-nationalists to form another government, they need all parties presently in the coalition to join and to gain 8 seats more. Liberman holds 7 seats that, were he to join, would bring the bloc to 60 seats. It should not be a challenge to find at least one defector from either Eisenkot or Bennett. This is Netanyahu’s path to forming a new government. Liberman is well known to be an opportunist.

The World Zionist Organization was formed in 1897. The Hasidic (Agudat Yisrael) and Lithuanian (Degel haTorah) Orthodox factions, represented in the form of the political party United Torah Judaism (UTJ), have never signed on to the World Zionist Organization (WZO) for theological reasons. They envision a return to Zion that follows and does not precede the peace.

The ultra-Orthodox are pacifists who do not serve in the IDF. Dependence upon the state to fund Torah study and a growing, unproductive class, is the cause of significant social friction. Many Israelis, left and right alike, ask why one community should be exempt from service while drawing heavily on public funds at the same time.

Working from an assumption that the Orthodox have come to understand that society cannot function with such a large portion of it learning Torah and praying rather than serving, working and paying taxes, there is a path to form an opposition government that does not require Avigdor Liberman. Both UTJ and Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party hold 7 seats, so the opposition could form a government with either of these parties.

If Eisenkot, Bennett, and Golan are prepared to partner with the Arabs, so too can they with the ultra-Orthodox. A transition plan would be required whereby the Orthodox are weaned from public funding while training for employment and performing non-military public service.

Counterintuitive as it may be to an opposition voter, it makes sense that the ultra-Orthodox play a pivotal role in saving Judaism from the ethno-nationalism that is destroying the nation from within.