Coordinated Clash: UTJ's Proposal to Likud - Let's Attack Each Other

Prime Minister Netanyahu has been working to politically distance himself from the Haredi parties, but a coordination has been exposed: a senior UTJ official proposed to Likud to conduct a planned public confrontation to halt the decline of Haredi parties in polls. Meanwhile, the Finance Committee will approve this week the transfer of hundreds of millions of shekels to Haredim, including 69 million for Haredi education and 54 million for kindergarten teachers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been working in recent days to politically distance himself from the Haredi parties ahead of the upcoming elections, despite extensive moves to transfer funds to Haredim planned this week. This evening (Sunday), the Prime Minister said that the arrest law did not succeed and that those who do not study Torah will be drafted or go to prison. But behind the scenes, we revealed on the 'Main Edition' a coordination between the parties around an election strategy. A few weeks ago, a very senior UTJ official approached a Likud senior with a proposal to conduct a planned public confrontation that would help both sides. The goal - to halt the decline in the power of the Haredi parties in polls - which stems from a sense of disappointment among their voters. The reason for that disappointment is the economic sanctions, perceived in the Haredi public as a failure of their representatives to protect their rights. Despite the declarations about a change in direction on the draft issue, the reality in the Knesset committees indicates a different order of priorities. On Tuesday, the Finance Committee will convene despite the recess to approve the transfer of hundreds of millions of shekels as coalition funds to Haredim and to the settlements. According to the Knesset rules, during this period only issues agreed upon unanimously should pass, but the committee will be asked to approve significant additions including 54 million shekels for Haredi kindergarten teachers and 69 million shekels for recognized but unofficial Haredi education. The budgetary move also includes 26 million shekels for preventing dropout from yeshivas, 13 million for Haredi Jewish culture, and 16 million for after-school programs in exempt institutions. Netanyahu has already begun the differentiation trend when he rushed to condemn the words of Rabbi Dov Landau who attacked those serving from the religious Zionist camp. The original plan, it seems, was to pass the huge package to Haredim before the elections, and use the propaganda months to make the public forget the issue and differentiate Likud from the coalition partners.