Our Unfortunate Situation

Yes, the situation is a mess. Relations between the National Religious public and the ultra-Orthodox are tense. The UOs are mad at the NRs for making a political pact with Yair Lapid. Although I understand that Naftali Bennett was really forced into this pact because of Netanyahu's desire to keep him and the Jewish Home party out of the government, I cannot say that I am happy about it. I wanted to see a different pact, and I warned what would happen if such a pact would not be formed:

The religious parties are now faced with a great task: to strive for unity! This unity must not be a unity of "lets grit our teeth and bear them". It must be a unity of mutual respect, founded on humbleness and the ability to see beyond one's own shteeble.

HaBayit HaYehudi went a long way on the road to unity before the elections, and it payed off in the polling booth. Now they, along with Shas and Yahadut HaTorah, must bury the hatchet, and find the way to sanctify God's name in the public sphere. The public will not forgive them if they fail.

Instead, we have this unfortunate situation. The man ultimately responsible is Prime Minister Netanyahu. He is the one who destroyed the natural Right/Religious/ultra-Orthodox block. In the previous elections he left the National Union out of the government, in spite of numerous promises to bring them in. In the current elections the Likud-Beiteinu campaign found nothing better to do than to besmirch the Jewish Home party. The Jewish Home party tried to form a block with Shas and UTJ. Since these efforts did not bear fruit, Bennett, like I wrote previously, had a choice between making a pact with Lapid or sitting in the opposition.

As far as the government that will be formed, they should know that any attempt to conscript Hareidim against their will is doomed to fail. Bennett will have to prove that he really is an "ach", a brother, to the ultra-Orthodox public who feels, justifiably or not, betrayed. The Jewish Home Party will have to stand like a fortified wall against the anti-Torah forces in the Yesh Atid party, as well as other anti-Torah MKs in the Knesset.