according to Srugim a deal has finally been reached for appointing new dayanim to the beis din hagadol. The latest holdup was due to the insistence of Rav Yitzchak Yosef that the new appointees should be according to a 60-40 split in favor of Sefardim.

The new agreement has UTJ choosing two dayanim (ashkenazim - 1 hassidic and 1 litvishe), Shas choosing 2 dayanim as decided by Rav Yosef, Habayit Hayehudi choosing 1 (ashkenaz) and the Likud appointing one (someone Sefardim currently affiliated with Shas, formerly considered Dati Leumi).

Regardless of the qualifications of each appointee, and I am sure they are each highly qualified, this goes to show the public how ineffective Habayit Hayehudi continues to be, at least in religious affairs.

Despite the majority of the secular and DL selectors on the committee, they agreed to give the Haredi dayanim the majority on the court.

If they can't win when they have the odds stacked in their favor, and if they can't negotiate strong in such a "minor" affair when negotiations should be easy with an equal division among the various interested parties, how does anyone realistically consider them capable and worthy of leading the country and dealing with far more complex issues?

The committee meets tonight to finalize the appointments. By then they might renege on the new agreement, under great public pressure. Even if they do I am only a bit surprised they have been so weak until now on this. I like Bennet and Shaked a lot in certain ways, but they are not strong leaders overall.