United Torah Judaism at risk of losing Knesset seat due to indifference and quarreling among its leadership.

 

While politicians are focused on the Arab vote and what percentage of that community will go to the polls, and the Likud party focuses on bringing more of its supporters to the polls, a potentially deadly blow may be coming to the right-wing bloc from one of its own: The haredi United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party may lose a seat due to infighting.

According to Israel Hayom, even though UTJ has enough potential voters to win nine or even ten Knesset seats, this time there is great concern that not only will the party not grow, but that it may even lose a seat. The greatest threat, from the perspective of the right-wing bloc, is not that UTJ will lose seats to Religious Zionism, but the complacency and lack of enthusiasm in the haredi streets, which may lead potential voters to remain at home on election day.

Israel Hayom listed several reasons for the lack of enthusiasm, foremost among them the lack of an inspiring leadership. Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a leading haredi rabbi who was popular and drew crowds of admirers and followers, passed away in March. In the previous elections, Rabbi Kanievsky went to haredi and secular cities, participated in conferences, and injected the haredi street with enthusiasm. His successor, Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, is a great Torah sage but does not have the halo, shine, miracle stories, and buzz surrounding him that Rabbi Kanievsky had.

In addition, many haredim are angry that there are no young MKs in yet another round of elections, and the relationship between Degel Hatorah's MK Moshe Gafni and Agudat Yisrael's Yitzhak Goldknopf is strained. Goldknopf also angered many modern haredim, who go out to work, by means of comments which they see as too conservative.

From an objective standpoint, the coming elections should be an easy win for the haredi parties, which have spent the past year and a half in the opposition: Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) is now prime minister, Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) became Finance Minister and instituted a list of changes which hurt the haredi community and raised the cost of living, and various sources in the government are working hard to force haredi schools to adopt the core curriculum. In addition, former Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana (National Unity) reformed the kosher food supervision system, and Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli (Labor) has advanced public transportation on Shabbat (the Sabbath).

Despite all of this, not only does UTJ not seem likely to gain seats, there is concern that it may lose a crucial seat - potentially costing the right-wing bloc, which consistently polls at 60 seats but is aiming for one more - a hard-won majority.