24 Kislev 5775
Erev HanukahI don't know if we will even see new elections, but just the preparation for it seems to be bringing about a birur that is unprecedented in my experience. The whole political map is being completely rearranged as people appear to be aligning themselves according to their true natures.
What is really exciting to me is to see people like Eli Yishai, Uriel Ariel and Yoni Chetboun coming together over strong Torah values, with talk of Michael Ben Ari's Otzma Yehudit party possibly joining with them.
This would be the first Chareidi-Dati-Leumi (chard"l) party ever...
MK (Bayit Yehudi) Yoni Chetboun has already proven that he will not cross a red line, and he paid dearly for it by going against his own party in the efforts to draft chareidim. Despite party leader Naftali Bennett instructing him to support the chareidi draft legislation, he refused and as part of his punishment, he was ousted from his position on the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee.
Defying party leader Bennett once again, Chetboun now refuses to sign a letter seeking to pressure Uri Ariel and his Tekuma faction from not splitting away from Bayit Yehudi. In this case, Chetboun wrote to Bennett “I would love to sign such a letter after the place for Torah values and the rabbonim of the religious Zionists are incorporated in the language.”
...Chetboun explains the current version of the letter is obviously intended to remove the rabbonim from the decision-making process and he is unwilling to be a part of such a process. He explains that if and when the letter includes that decision will include daas Torah, he will be pleased to sign as well but the current version is unacceptable.
The Yisrael Hayom daily adds HaGaon HaRav Dov Lior Shlita has instructed Ariel to run independent of Bayit Yehudi.
Some feel that Chetboun may be on the way out of Bayit Yehudi and will form a party with Ariel and Eli Yishai, who appears to be moving away from Shas. (Source)
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Former Shas leader Eli Yishai announced Monday evening that he is leaving his political home of the past 30 years and forming a new party.
"The people are with us because they want unity," Yishai said during a press conference in Jerusalem, predicting 10 mandates for his new party in the upcoming elections. "The people want to finally break the barriers between religious and secular, between Ashkenazim and Sephardim, to bring the tribes of Israel together. The people are with us because the people want social justice and concern for the poor, the lower class, the periphery and development towns."
...I have no doubt I am starting a new party with my hands clean, with integrity and with faith," he said.
He said the decision to leave Shas was a difficult one to make. "I've deliberated for a long time but in the end, Israel's great and the people were the deciding factor to go on a new path." (Source)
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"The people are with us, they want unity, they want to break down the walls between religious and non-religious, between Sephardim and Ashkenazim," said Yishai.
"The people want Torah, they want our traditions, Jewish values, decency and love of Israel. The nation wants true peace with our neighbours alongside love of the nation, the Land of Israel and the Torah," he continued in a refrain designed to resonate with the national religious community.
He insisted several times during his address that he was "leaving a party, but continuing the path of Maran [Yosef]," and took pains to point out that he was splitting from Shas to begin his own party with the blessing and support of Rabbi Meir Mazuz, a well respected rabbinic figure in the Sephardi haredi world.
Securing the backing of Mazuz is an important step for Yishai in gaining legitimacy for his party and his decision to split from Shas in the eyes of the haredi community,.... (Source)
Maybe this will become one of those "Mi l'Hashem elai" moments.
