Because of a dispute between Degel Hatorah and Agudat Israel, the two factions (not including the sub-factions) making up the political party Yahadut Hatorah regarding a rotation agreement that was supposed to be implemented moving Yitzchak Pindrus back into the Knesset for Degel, the beis din ajudicating the case came up with a solution ro resolve the issue. The solution was to have Yisrael Eichler be appointed as a Deputy Minister which would allow him to resign from the Knesset and open a spot for Yitzchak Pindrus under the "Norwegian Law".

Eichler became Deputy Minister in the government Ministry of Communications despite Yahadut Hatorah, United Torah Judaism, his party, having had left the coalition back in July 2025. This was an absurd situation in which UTJ was not part of the coalition due to their protesting the government's handling (or actually, not handling) of the draft law they wanted/needed but one of their members took and held a government position as Deputy Minister.

It now gets even more absurd.

Deputy Minister Eichler gives an interview to Mishpacha Magazine for this week's edition of the publication. The purpose of the interview is to talk politics and Eichler's work and the Day Care Law he is trying to get passed, among other things.

During the interview Eichler makes an interesting and absurd statement. He says, "I am not a partner in this government and I have not participated in any government meetings. [Being a Deputy Minister] is purely a technical matter."

I remember back in 2015 Yaakov Litzman took the position of Minister. That was the first time a UTJ representative took a ministerial position. Until 2015 the approach of UTJ was to not take ministerial positions in government saying this basically absolves them of any government decisions that might be against halacha such as chilul shabbos and the like. Since Litzman broke the ice, UTJ reps have regularly taken more and increasingly more ministerial positions. 

So they used to avoid being a partner in the government by refusing to take ministerial positions, and now they take ministerial positions but still deny membership and responsiblity for government decisions. Absurd.

Further, taking a position as Deputy Minister is an expensive matter and it comes with great responsibility. There is important work to do both in the ministry and in the government. It comes with offices, advisors, car and driver, pension and all sorts of discretionary funds and budgets. Yet Eichler takes all that and is obviously, by his own admission, not doing his job. he does not participate in government meetings. It is just a technical appointment to satisfy the dispute between Degel and Agudah and get Pindrus back into Knesset. 

Cynically, it is all just a matter of jobs to them to help themselves to a parnassa and not actually do anything they are supposed to be doing as a matter of representing their voters and the people of Israel (in ministerial positions especially, more so than just as Knesset members, they are supposed to be representing all of Israel not just their voters).

Absurd. Eichler is a Deputy Minister when his party is not a member of the government coalition and then claims even as Deputy Minister he is not part of the government that is doing things he does not agree with. It makes sense and fits very nicely with a government that does not take repsonsiblity for anything and blames everything on everyone else.