Not So Fast: Degal Hatorah Objects To UTJ Coalition Deal

Israeli Prime Minister-designate Bibi Netanyahu informed President Isaac Herzog last night that he had succeeded in forming a government. However, the Degel HaTorah faction, which makes up half of the United Torah Judaism party, has a number of objections to the coalition agreement between the Likud party and UTJ, Arutz Sheva reports.

Degal HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni sent a letter to Netanyahu this evening in which he demanded that negotiations be reopened on the grounds that the agreement was concluded only with the Agudath Yisrael faction and not with all members of UTJ.

“Since we learned the results of the elections, according to which it is possible for you to form a stable government headed by you consisting of parties that value the Jewish identity of the State of Israel and that you will faithfully serve all the citizens of the State of Israel wherever they are, we MKs of Degel HaTorah have engaged in intensive and substantive negotiations in the last two months for the purpose of establishing a government as quickly as possible,” Gafni began his letter.

He added that “When Degel HaTorah did not even condition its signature on the replacement of the Speaker of the Knesset on the progress of the negotiations, even though important issues from our point of view were not yet ripe for an understanding, we acted from a responsible attitude throughout the ongoing negotiations. We conducted the negotiations together with our partners from Agudath Yisrael as we have always done, and although differences of opinion often arose between us and Agudath Yisrael on various points, we made every effort on our part to come together as one bloc and with one goal, when sometimes we agreed on things even though we were not comfortable with them.”

Gafni said that Degel HaTorah had been loyal to its partner faction. “When Likud representatives approached us with a request for a signature on the Speaker of the Knesset without Agudath Yisrael representatives, we refused. We were surprised to hear that yesterday a coalition agreement was signed by Agudat Yisrael, and all this despite the fact that fundamental issues that were between us had not yet been discussed and we had not come to an agreement on them.”

Arutz Sheva reports that Gafni also said that the participation of UTJ chairman Yitzchok Goldknopf in the security cabinet was contrary to the opinion of leading chareidi political figures. “In addition to this, we “discovered” appendices that were attached to the signed agreement, including things that we objected to during the negotiations, and even positions and memberships in bodies that they have avoided to this day, as always, as instructed by our rabbis. This separate signing carries great significance.”

Gafni demanded that the coalition agreement be reopened for negotiations in which Degel HaTorah would be included. “Therefore, in the opinion of our rabbis, we demand that Lithuania reopen negotiations that will also include issues raised by the representatives of Degel HaTorah in the negotiations.”