Ungrateful Charedie newspapers launch coordinated attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

 Following a Tuesday decision by leading Lithuanian-haredi rabbis that the Charedi MKs should work to dissolve the Knesset, Charedi newspapers blasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring their lack of faith in him.

Yated Ne’eman quoted Lithuanian-haredi leader Rabbi Dov Lando as saying that 

"there is no longer any trust in Netanyahu and that the Knesset should be dissolved."

The Hamodia newspaper, identified with the Gur Chasidic movement, whose representative MK Yitzhak Goldknopf has effectively acted as part of the opposition for about a year, used even sharper language in its headline, hinting that Netanyahu has no political future with the Charedim by stating that there is no chance the Likud will succeed in passing a Draft Law.

Meanwhile, Hamevaser chose to emphasize the political crisis itself, highlighting in its headline the achievement of a majority for dissolving the Knesset.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rabbi Lando instructed Degel Hatorah’s Knesset members to work toward dissolving the Knesset as quickly as possible, declaring that "there is no more trust in Netanyahu."

The directive was issued during a meeting in which party MKs reviewed the current political situation and Netanyahu’s clarification that he would have difficulty passing the proposed Draft Law at this time.

"From now on, we will do only what is good for Haredi Judaism and the yeshiva world," Rabbi Lando’s office stated, adding that "the concept of a [political] ‘bloc’ no longer exists for us."

Also on Tuesday, Kikar Hashabbat quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying that senior figures in United Torah Judaism's (UTJ) Degel Hatorah faction, including its leader MK Moshe Gafni, alongside representatives of UTJ's Agudat Yisrael faction, held discreet talks approximately two years ago with senior officials from Israel’s center-left bloc. During those discussions, the haredi representatives were allegedly offered a political arrangement in which, if they aligned with the center-left in elections, they would receive backing for a more favorable draft exemption law than what is currently being negotiated.

Despite the proposal, Charedi leaders reportedly rejected it outright, declaring their commitment to Netanyahu as unwavering.

Shas, for its part, is said to have indicated at the time that it would follow Degel Hatorah’s political decisions.

Meanwhile, sources in the coalition have warned that dissolving the Knesset serves the interests of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who has worked consistently to block any government moves which do not align with her political interests, including proposed Draft Law bills, and who has ordered a series of sanctions against the haredi community due to the lack of progress on legislating a Draft Law.