to the casual observer this looks like a relatively uninteresting picture of the UTJ headquarters in Bet Shemesh working on their plans and responsibilities for the election campaign.

What makes this picture interesting is that the picture shows the UTJ representatives, both those of Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael, there working, but it also shows the representatives of Shas there, in the UTJ headquarters.

This really would not interest me. Shas and UTJ do a lot of work together and often coordinate on issues, both locally and nationally. To me this seems fine and normal. And boring. But it bothers Shas. According to Actualic, Shas activists are upset about this and saying that it shows the Shas reps groveling before the UTJ reps, as if looking for their approval and as if we are back in the 70s when the Sefardim needed Ashkenazi approval for everything.

They are particularly upset because of Eli Yishai's recent move to support UTJ instead of Shas and they say this is another sign of the Sefardim treating the Ashkenazim as their patrons. The local Shas representatives, they say, should have opened their own respectable headquarters and worked for their own campaign.