is the whole of UTJ greater than the sum of its parts?

Kikar is reporting (based on a Channel 12 News report) that the Degel Hatorah faction is threatening to split off from UTJ and run separately from Agudath Israel. They throw their hands up in frustration and suggest that Agudah can run on their own or in a block with Smotritch and the Peleg people.

The threat is over the fight for which party should hold the number 1 position in the united bloc and which should get the first selection of jobs in the next government. Until now the arrangement has been a rotation between Degel and Agudah with 1 party taking the first spot and the other taking the first choice of position. Degel now wants both the first spot and the first choice. The first choice will ensure Gafni keeps the head of the Finance Committee (if they are part of the next government) and the first spot will mean a better chance of Degel getting a fourth MK (ie Pindrus) into Knesset. It also positions the other two Degel MKs to retain their influential positions rather than having less important ones next time. Why they think they deserve this I don't know, but that's the fight.

Nobody thinks they will carry out their threat, and that it is just flexing muscles. Both Degel and Litzman think that they can each cross the minimum threshold as independent parties. Gafni is threatening this now and he must clearly believe so. Litzman, head of Agudah, has threatened Eichler and Porush with splitting in their fight, saying that Gur is big enough to pass with Visznitz and without the smaller factions.

I don't see how they can each believe with full confidence that on their own they are big enough to pass. UTJ has barely achieved 8 seats. That is borderline. Degel has a better chance, I think, of passing, as internal polling between the groups in previous years has shown Degel to really hold a 60-40 advantage in size in UTJ. But with them barely achievig 8 seats together, it must be a concern if they would go off on their own. They have to get four full seats on their own to get into Knesset. Maybe, maybe not.

Anyways, we might get a chance to see if the sum of the parts are greater than the whole, or if the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Hat is something many people, within UTJ and without, have been wondering about for a while.

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