Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach’s breakaway Netach faction has pulled out of
Israel’s national elections and Auerbach issued a public call for all
haredim to vote for the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Knesset list. Auerbach
met yesterday with the Gerrer Rebbe, who controls the hasidic half of
UTJ. His announcement in support of UTJ was published in today’s
Hamodia, a haredi daily controlled by Ger, Netzach’s own daily HaPeles. Yated Ne'eman, the haredi daily controlled by Auerbach's rival Degel HaTorah, did not carry the announcement.
Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach
Breakaway Ashkenazi Haredi Faction Pulls Out Of Elections, Calls On Haredim To Vote For United Torah Judaism Party
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach’s breakaway Netach faction has pulled out of Israel’s national elections and Auerbach issued a public call for all haredim to vote for the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Knesset list.
Auerbach met yesterday with the Gerrer Rebbe, who controls the hasidic half of UTJ. His announcement in support of UTJ was published in today’s Hamodia, a haredi daily controlled by Ger, Netzach’s own daily HaPeles, Yeshiva World reports.
In the announcement, Auerbach reportedly cites the extraordinary external threats to the haredi community – presumably the looming military draft of haredi yeshiva students and fears the government will force haredi schools to teach children math, science, civics, history and English – as justification for putting his differences with UTJ aside.
Auerbach’s Netzach faction split off from UTJ’s Degel HaTorah faction, the Ashkenazi non-hasidic haredi faction that controls half of UTJ’s Knesset seats, after Auerbach’s bid for haredi leadership was rejected and his supporters purged from Degel HaTorah and its affiliates.
Degel HaTorah's daily Yated Ne'eman did not publish Auerbach's announcement.
Polls show that Netzach would not have won the minimum number of votes needed to seat a Knesset member. But the votes Netzach would have won would have come from Degel HaTorah’s voters, costing UTJ one or even two Knesset seats.