Senior officials in Shas and United Torah Judaism said they were stunned on Saturday night after learning that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to dissolve the Knesset as soon as next week, without passing any of the bills the ultra-Orthodox parties demanded. That includes the daycare subsidy bill, the detention law sought by Shas leader Aryeh Deri, and the Basic Law on Torah study.
The officials expressed deep frustration, with some admitting bluntly, “We failed at everything.” One senior ultra-Orthodox source said the parties no longer have leverage over Netanyahu: “We have nothing left to threaten him with.” He added that after United Torah Judaism agreed to elections on October 20, as Netanyahu demanded, the factions were left with no cards to play and now he is the one deciding when to dissolve the parliament.
Another senior figure said overnight, “We failed at everything, we have nothing to show our voters, we failed. Even in the final attempt we failed, what will we go to the elections with? Netanyahu played us and played us, and we followed him like a blind goat.” The article says Netanyahu had already told ultra-Orthodox leaders in recent days that the daycare bill would not pass in the current term, angering lawmakers who viewed it as a breach of coalition agreements.
In response, United Torah Judaism chairman MK Moshe Gafni said his two party members on the Knesset Finance Committee would vote against all budget transfers. Agudat Yisrael said that failing to pass the bill would amount to an admission that Netanyahu wants to dissolve the Knesset and go to elections. According to a report by Amit Segal, senior coalition figures are pressing Netanyahu to dissolve the Knesset this week, arguing that further delay will only hurt the ultra-Orthodox legislation. Netanyahu has not yet made a final decision on the exact timing.
