Shas and UTJ Making Deal With Arab Parties to Oppose Granting Ben-Gvir Power to Enforce Illegal Arab Construction

 

 This report is from the Jerusalem Post and I really hope this isn't true! Both the Chareidim and the Arabs are denying it. 

The article explains that the Chareidie Parties need the Arab Parties to back them to pass laws to exempt Chareidim from the Draft! 

Why am I surprised?

They will sit with Eichmann and Hitler ym"s as long as they back them in their selfish scheme to get "leidegeirs" from doing what should required of every Jew. 

National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit chairman MK Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Monday that his party would no longer adhere to coalition discipline and would vote in the Knesset as it sees fit, after the two ultra-Orthodox (haredi) parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), refused to support a move that would give him broader powers to enforce construction violations.

The seemingly inconsequential spat touched on simmering political tensions on additional issues such as the haredi exemption from military service, and provided a glimpse into political wheeling and dealing occurring behind the scenes

The plenum was scheduled on Monday to approve Ben-Gvir’s takeover of the National Unit for Enforcing Planning and Construction Laws. The unit was formed in 2017 as part of the Kamenetz Law, the purpose of which was to tighten enforcement of illegal construction, especially in the Arab sector.

The unit, which has the authority to hand out fines and other sanctions for construction violators, has been under the auspices of the Finance Ministry. However, the Likud agreed, in coalition agreements signed in November 2022, that the unit would move to Ben-Gvir’s ministry.

Ben-Gvir has promoted stricter enforcement against construction violations, especially among Bedouin nomad communities in the South, and having the unit under his auspices will give him more power over it.

However, Ben-Gvir announced on Monday that the haredim were unwilling to support the move, and therefore the coalition did not have a majority for it to pass. According to Ben-Gvir, the reason the haredim opposed the move was that they had made a deal with the Knesset’s two Arab parties.

The deal was that the haredi parties would agree to block Ben-Gvir’s move in exchange for support from the Arab parties on a future bill to regulate haredi conscription to the IDF. The Arab parties strongly oppose the Kamenetz Law and argue that it is discriminatory towards Israeli Arabs, who are forced to build illegally due to insufficient urban planning by the state in Arab cities and towns.

The haredi parties are seeking to pass a new law to enable as many yeshiva students as possible to remain exempt from IDF service, after the law that granted them a blanket exemption expired.

Sources from both the haredi and Arab parties denied Ben-Gvir’s claim. The haredi and Arab parties have collaborated in the past on the issue of laws providing an exemption from IDF service, but this time that was not the case, the sources said. Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi called Ben-Gvir a liar, saying in a speech in the plenum that even though the

Arab parties supported the haredi exemption, they would vote against such a bill to bring down the government if their votes were the deciding factor. A source from UTJ confirmed that there was no deal between the two groups.

Following the October 7 Hamas massacre and ensuing war, the haredi constituency will no longer accept cooperation with the Israeli Arab parties, the source said.

Shas Religious Affairs Minister Michel Malkieli filibustered on the Knesset dais for approximately an hour while the sides tried to work out their differences behind the scenes, but this was unsuccessful, and the vote to move the National Unit for Enforcing Planning and Construction Laws to Ben-Gvir’s ministry was removed from the agenda. The Knesset is currently in recess and sessions are rarely held, and only after receiving special approval, and it is unclear when the next vote on the matter will occur.