Israel’s new governing coalition is the first since 2013 not to include the ḥaredi parties—the leaders of which have been hurling invective at it since it was sworn in. In general, these parties have always tried to find their way into the government regardless of which party dominates, hoping to trade their valuable Knesset votes for support on issues of particular importance to their constituents. Haviv Rettig Gur explains:
Ḥaredi parties . . . have been part of nearly every coalition—left, right and center—since the 1970s. . . . Historically, [these] parties largely ignored questions of national security, regional strategy, land, or Palestinian independence. Their top priority was always ensuring state funding for their institutions and communities.
That’s no accident. The Israeli ḥaredi community is deeply dependent on state funding, with large families and high rates of nonparticipation in the workforce, especially among men who choose to study in yeshiva full time. . . . Roughly 1.3 billion shekels ($400 million) in state funding goes to their yeshivas each year and billions more to the vast slew of ḥaredi charities, school networks, and community institutions.
But looking behind the scenes and reading between the lines, Gur notes a shift away from this purely transactional model:
Ḥaredi society once rejected “secular” Israel out of hand. Slowly, in piecemeal increments, that’s flipped. Most now identify deeply with the state, and as that identification grows, the demand to have a say in shaping Israeli society grows with it. Studies now show that ordinary Ḥaredim feel a cultural affinity with traditionalist right-wing voters, [that is, those who are religious Zionists or merely somewhat religiously observant].
So it is that anyone who follows the overheated rhetoric of the ḥaredi MKs in recent days will notice that they have studiously avoided all talk of money and focused instead on the religious culture war.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/can-the-haredi-parties-afford-a-long-stay-in-the-opposition/