Zionist political leaders married to Haredim

I am a citizen of Israel who has voted in Israeli elections since 1993. I have learned that it is not enough to read the platforms of political parties. Nor is it enough to research who is on a party’s list and where they appear on it, or even to read hard-hitting interviews with party leaders.

What some forget is that in the constellation of real-world politics, whom your party will “marry” (that is, make a coalition agreement with, along with all the accompanying compromises) is a factor that cannot be ignored. Sometimes it is actually the dominant factor in government policy.

As the accompanying new Ayin Tova Cartoon shows, we find Zionist MK political leaders “married” to leading Haredi MKs.

Voters for the Likud, headed by Bibi Netanyahu, must face the fact that their party has gotten into bed with ultra-Orthodox Haredim who work against the State. Some are even openly anti-Zionist and refuse to serve in the IDF in any capacity. Moreover, those same coalition partners and draft dodgers are paid and heavily subsidized (in effect, bribed) by a Likud-led government.

Voters in the Religious Zionist camp, including supporters of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, must face the same issues. In the most recent coalition government, the Religious Zionists actively supported anti-Zionist Haredi schools and communities, as well as their lifestyle and rabbinic positions.

So go ahead and vote for Zionist values.

But don’t fool yourself. A vote for the Likud or the Religious Zionists is clearly and decidedly a vote for a Haredi worldview that stands in opposition to those values. It is a society that includes a compromised education, subpar preparation for earning a living, and an unwillingness to defend our country and nation against its enemies.

Are we brave enough to face the truth?

Simply put, a vote for the Religious Zionists or the Likud is actually a vote for Agudat Yisrael and other Haredi parties.