it is a two-way street

Yamina sent/went into the Opposition has brought about something interesting very quickly.

The job of parties in the Opposition is, on the one hand to protect its constituents interests from the government that might trample on the rights of others, and on the other hand to work to bring down the coalition.

Yamina complained that the Haredi parties did not fight for Yamina to be int he coalition and only made some statements as lip service. Bennett felt, or at least said, that the Haredi parties should have refused to enter the coalition without Yamina.

Today it is being reported that Yamina shockingly now has an agreement and working arrangement with Yisrael Beyteynu in the Opposition. Yamina is, for now, denying it saying Yisrael Beyteynu has become an anti-Jewish party that sent Israel to 3 rounds of elections and Yamina isnt working with them. Some might, or do, say that Bennett is somewhat at fault for the election rounds because of his original split and not passing the minimum threshold - so his accusation on YB rings hollow, and his response rings hollow.

MK Moshe Gafni spoke up today, in response to the initial accusation by Bennett that the Haredi parties did nothing to ensure Yamina's place in the coalition. Gafni said, "Yamina cannot come to us with complaints - what did they expect, that we will negotiate for them so they can get jobs, some of them being ones we wanted for us? Such a thing does not exist even between Shas and UTJ!"

Gafni is right. I said that myself (link above). That is not how it works. UTJ does not need to fight for Yamina, and without a formal agreement to stick together, each party only looks out for its own narrow interests. UTj doesnt need Yamina, when it can get whatever it wants from Netanyahu, so it has no need to fight for Yamina - definitely not without an actual agreement to do so.

But it works both ways. It is a two-way street.

Now that Yamina is in the Opposition, UTJ, Gafni, Netanyahu, Shas and all the other coalition members should not get upset when Yamina works against their interests. What does UTJ expect - that Yamina should not work together with Yisrael Beyteynu and Yesh Atid to bring down the government and to make trouble for the coalition? UTJ thinks Bennett should do things in the most inefficient way, fighting alone, so that UTJ's interests will be protected from Lieberman? UTJ let Yamina be pushed out but doesnt want Yamina to do anything effective against them? That is also not how it works. If they do not make a working arrangement with Lieberman to work to bring down the government I would be even more disappointed in Yamina. That is what their job calls for right now. They are not there to protect UTJ or Shas or Kachol Lavan or Likud or anyone in particular. They need to protect the interests of the Dati Leumi community, work to bring down the Coalition or to change it and to get themselves in to the government where they can have influence.Every party in the Opposition has that role.

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------