Yesh Atid Woos Moderate Orthodox Voters, Launches a Moderate Orthodox Faction, Will No Longer Push For Allowing Public Transportation On Shabbat

Yesh Atid hopes to be able to draw disaffected voters who previously supported the National Religious Party, which morphed into the increasingly right-wing Zionist Orthodox HaBayit HaYehudi Party headed by Economy, Diaspora and Religious Services Minister Naftali Bennett.

Above: Yair Lapid

Yesh Atid Woos Moderate Orthodox Voters, Launches a Moderate Orthodox Faction, Will No Longer Push For Allowing Public Transportation On Shabbat
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

The centrist and purportedly rabidly secular Yesh Atid Party headed by Yair Lapid has announced it will have a moderate Zionist Orthodox faction, Yeshiva World reported.

Since its inception two years ago, Yesh Atid has always had Orthodox members and members of Knesset, including Education Minister Rabbi Shai Piron and MK Rabbi Dov Lippman. But now it also has MK Brigadier General (Ret.) Elazar Stern, who left Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah Party earlier this month to join the Yesh Atid list for the March Knesset election.

Now that Yesh Atid has decided to make this group of moderate Orthodox lawmakers an official party faction, Israeli media widely reported that Yesh Atid has announced it will no longer push to have public buses and trains run on Shabbat.

Yesh Atid hopes to be able to draw disaffected voters who previously supported the National Religious Party, which morphed into the increasingly right-wing Zionist Orthodox HaBayit HaYehudi Party headed by Economy, Diaspora and Religious Services Minister Naftali Bennett.

Yesh Atid and its founder Yair Lapid are hated by haredim, who view the party as anti-haredi and anti-Semitic. Lapid, Israel’s former Finance Minister, is the son of Holocaust survivor and politician who was also demonized by haredim.