Gerer Rebbe appoints a "Questionable Shady Character" to represent them in Knesset

 

 Ger will have a new representative in the coming Knesset. The Gerer Rebbe has chosen Yitzchak Goldknopf to represent the largest chasidic sect in Israel in the Knesset 

 Goldknopf is  known and even notorious in the chareidi public for his leadership of the kindergarten and daycare chain in Jerusalem that he inherited from his father, turning it into a prosperous nationwide chain of hundreds of early educational centers, as well as medical clinics and schools for special needs children.

Goldknopf’s draconian management style, includes alleged violations of the rights of thousands of chareidi women employed as kindergarten teachers and aides. These teachers were forced to sign agreements waiving their rights to seniority and basic employment rights, leaving them with salaries of 50% of their counterparts in other educational systems. Goldknopf systematically exploited the need of chareidi women for employment to deny them tenure and other employment benefits.

In recent years, these teachers have taken their protest to the Knesset, with little success. Even efforts to unionize under the Histadrut labor federation were unsuccessful. When some of the teachers appealed to Goldknopf himself, he refused to entertain their demands, asking one of the them, “What, you want your pay to be higher than that of the director general?”

It is thus unfortunate that the Gerer Rebbe sees Goldknopf as a worthy representative for the next Knesset. Many chareidim have responded on social media,stating that they would rather vote Likud if Goldknopf is placed on the electoral slate. Others say that he should be indicted for his exploitation of teaching staff. With the current split in Gur it is also highly unlikely that the breakaway faction will vote for Goldknopf, an appointment of the Rebbe.

Thus it is safe to assume that both Shas and Agudah will not gain electorally in a new election but how much they will lose depends both on the popularity of Ben-Gvir and the lack of popularity of Agudah’s representatives in a chareidi public increasingly unconvinced with its political leaders integrity.