Member of Knesset Rabbi Yisrael Eichler of the Ashkenazi haredi United Torah Judaism Party (UTJ) – arguably the most obnoxious and aggressive of all Knesset Members – has sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatening to refuse to back the new government if Netanyahu fails to make Eichler the chairman of the Knesset’s Public Petitions Committee.
Above: Rabbi Yisrael Eichler
Haredi MK Threatens To Bring Down Shaky Coalition Government Unless His Demands Are Met
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Member of Knesset Rabbi Yisrael Eichler of the Ashkenazi haredi United Torah Judaism Party (UTJ) – arguably the most obnoxious and aggressive of all Knesset Members – has sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatening to refuse to back the new government if Netanyahu fails to make Eichler the chairman of the Knesset’s Public Petitions Committee, Arutz Sheva reported.
Eichler reportedly wrote that if Netanyahu refuses, Eichler would not see himself as being bound by the coalition agreement signed between UTJ and Netanyahu’s Likud Party.
"I appealed to the prime minister to grant MK [Rabbi Uri] Makhlev chairmanship of the Interior Committee and me chairmanship of the Public Petitions Committee,” Eichler reportedly told Radio Kol Hai this morning.
Eichler claimed he would "act according to the directives of his rabbi" – i.e., Yissachar Dov Rokeach, the Belzer Rebbe.
However, Rokeach authorized the coalition agreement between UTJ and Likud.
According to what Arutz Sheva calls well-informed sources who spoke to Arutz Sheva on condition of anonymity, Eichler told prominent Likud MK and coalition negotiator Ze'ev Elkin that he did not feel bound by the coalition agreement signed by UTJ and would not act as if he were until his own list of demands were met by Likud and Netanyahu. Elkin reportedly asked UTJ's leadership to rein in Eichler and convince him to keep the agreement his party signed, but Eichler reportedly refused.
Netanyahu’s government has only 61 out of 120 Knesset seats. If Eichler were to withdraw from the coalition, the new government would likely fall.
UTJ was given hundreds of millions of dollars in that coalition agreement to induce it to back Netanyahu for a forth term as prime minister, angering many secular and non-haredi Israelis – including many Likud supporters. In addition, the agreement also allows haredim to dodge the draft without criminal penalty and for haredi schools to steal from the government without being cut off from government funding or financially penalized if they are caught.
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