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| Hypocrites with beards |
UTJ, Kulanu, Yisrael Beytenu are all set to go left if Labor gets upper hand.
They would join them in a coalition even though Herzog has voiced support for Reform and Conservative conversions to Judaism, as well as civil burial and same-sex marriage, and would join the left even though Herzog supports expulsion of Jewish communities in Yehuda and Shomron.
Why do people wonder that their children are going off the derech watching all this hypocrisy...
Shas MK Nissim Ze'ev, one of the founders of the party who was recently ousted by chairman Aryeh Deri, spoke to Arutz Sheva about the upcoming elections next week, and Deri's recent comments according to which he would not negate joining a coalition led by Labor chairman Yitzhak Herzog.
According to Ze'ev, if Likud falls short of Labor as it has in several recent polls, Deri isn't the only one who would join a leftist government - several other parties seen as leaning right, including Yisrael Beytenu, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Kulanu would join Herzog, he says.
The MK notes that Shas and UTJ, both haredi parties, seek to join governments to advance their agendas. He notes "look at the history. Shas once was with Labor and once with Bibi (Binyamin Netanyahu) and (Ehud) Olmert.
Shas doesn't intentionally go against the right, but if a situation arises where Herzog has a chance to form a government it will sit with them as will United Torah Judaism."
"Their ideology is to help the (haredi) Torah world and the political topic isn't the central issue according to which these parties go to elections," he explained.
Ze'ev also expressed outrage at Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman for refusing to allow the haredi parties to join the outgoing coalition, in a replacement of Hatnua and Yesh Atid after Netanyahu removed them, sparking the elections.
While Herzog has voiced support for Reform and Conservative conversions to Judaism, as well as civil burial and same-sex marriage, issues that should concern Shas and UTJ from a religious standpoint, Ze'ev reasons that after the "catastrophe of religion and state" - in other words anti-religious legislation in the outgoing coalition - they may not find a Labor government as any worse.
He suggests that after election campaign posturing ends, religious red lines for joining a coalition will be formed to allow the haredi parties to join a leftist government.
Identifying right or left?
However, Ze'ev notes that if the right-wing bloc comes out stronger in the elections there is no doubt UTJ and Shas will prefer to join a government of Likud, Jewish Home and Yachad - Ha'am Itanu, which could also include Yisrael Beytenu and Kulanu.
But the MK warns "if Buji (Herzog) goes up and the left overcomes the center will go to the left."
When asked whether Deri's recent statements supporting the expulsion of small communities in Judea and Samaria were an expression of his position or an attempt to steal leftist votes, Ze'ev said the talk is "not relevant."
"The Arabs don't fold and therefore this whole topic isn't relevant, but those who declare in advance they are ready for concessions harm the goal," said Ze'ev.
The MK noted that as someone who sat in the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for 16 years, he knows there is no chance for a peace deal of any sort with the Palestinian Authority (PA), unless someone advances a unilateral process like the 2005 Disengagement plan, a process independent of the desires of the Palestinian Arab side.
Ze'ev also criticized Shas spiritual founder Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's daughter, Rabbanit Adina Bar-Shalom, who recently voiced her support of a peace process to advance a "two-state solution."
"It's an illusion of a wide public that doesn't understand that the Palestinian viewpoint changed completely and they aren't giving up," said Ze'ev. "Every evacuation will bring Hamas and terror organizations."
While Ze'ev was surprisingly removed from the Shas list, he notes he is still in close contact with all the Shas MKs - other than Deri.
He stated that he separates between personal and political connections; despite his great differences of opinion with Arab MKs Ahmed Tibi and Hanin Zoabi, "still there is a statement of peace. I respect every person as they are."
Ze'ev spoke out in favor of Eli Yishai's Yachad party, formed after Yishai broke off from Shas, and condemned the "struggle by Shas and Jewish Home against it, as if they are potential enemies of theirs."
"People who go to Yachad maybe were with Shas in the past, but today would not vote Shas, and the same with hardalnikim (religious Zionist haredim), these are voters who wouldn't vote Jewish Home, and likewise the Chabadnikim (Chabad followers)," he explained.
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