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.

In light of that, MK Pnina Tamano-Shata (Kachol Lavan) proposed a law to have the government fund each returned hostage, and the family of each dead hostage, to the tune of 4 million shekels. The idea being, their recovery should be dependantupon the success of a crowd funding campaign but they should be taken care of by the State after what they went through.

Today the proposal came to vote. The Coalition voted it down 50-40 thus defeating the law and sending the hostages back to the crowd funding platforms.

I have not seen any explanation, as of the time of this writing, given by members of the Coalition who voted against. If anyone can explain why they voted against, please explain in the comments. Did they think the law should say 6 million or 3 million or 1 million? Do they think they are not responsible to help with their recovery? Or if you saw an explanation given by Coalition members, please point me in that drection. 

It seems the government that funded Hamas refuses to also fund its victims.

The government that expanded itself to 25 ministries with tremendous waste wont spend on the hostages.

To be fair, it should be noted that via Bituach Leumi the hostages and families do get an initial sum of 60000nis each, along with 9000nis per month for life, along with some other financial assistance packages for various purposes...

I would really like to hear what the coalition considered bad about this law proposal that they had to oppose it.

I am not quite sure how this works. This is similar to what Ben Gvir did when he left the government, he also supported it form the outside despite having left due to significant disagreement on policy, and eventually returning.

What's the point of resigning and leaving the government but protecting it from the outside? The government will be a minority government but they are propping up the government they are abandoning. What is the point of that? I didn't understand it when Ben Gvir did it either.

 
update:

it seems they are leaving the government but not the coalition. Still not sure what the point is but at least they arent supporting it from outside but from inside so it makes slightly more sense

from the news:

 Amiel Yarchi (Knesset reporter for i24) reporting: Netanyahu is putting strong pressure on Deri to wait before leaving the government considering the security events in Syria..

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I am not sure why the Supreme court ruled anything at all. Ronen Bar announced his plans to resign in June. In light of Bar's resignation, the government retracted its firing of Ronen Bar. If the government retracted the firing of Ronen Bar, there is retroactively no court petition to rule on.

So why is the Supreme Court ruling anything on this at all today?

  

Golan said, "Israel is on the path to becoming a pariah state among the nations – like the South Africa of old – if it does not return to behaving like a sane country. A sane country does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies for a hobby, and does not set goals involving the expulsion of populations.”

Golan never said anything about the IDF and didnt accuse them of killing babies, but was in context talking about the government and what they are trying to do. After his statement created an uproar with everyone upset at him accusing the IDF of killing babies as a hobby and blaming him for antisemitism around the world, Golan held a press conference in which he clarified his statement stressing he is speaking against the government and not against the IDF.

Why is he speaking against the government like this? Because Ministers Ben Gvir and Smotritch, both senior Cabinet ministers, have been talking about annihilating Gaza, wiping it out, killing all the residents, etc. Minister Wasserlauf recently said again that an atom bomb should be dropped on Gaza. Moshe Feiglin, a former Likudnik and one who aspires to make a grand return, said explicitly we have to kill all the babies in Gaza. Other MKs in the government coalition have been making similar statements, and right wing reporters who hold influence in the government have as well.

I get they are attacking Golan because he is an easy target and an easy deflection from their own issues. Just like I wouldn't accuse someone who reported a crime of making a chilul hashem (I am thinking of an accusation commonly made against those who report sexual abuse crimes and the like) but the perpetrator of the crime is the one who made the chilul hashem, so Golan isnt guilty of claiming the government or IDF is killing babies, but the ministers calling for it are.

So why was Golan acting irresponsibly? 

Yair Golan holds an important position. His star is rising in the face of a weak Opposition. He has been raising the Labor and Meretz parties (jointly making up what is now known as the Democratim) from about 4 seats to polling at around 15, and what could be a force in a future Knesset or even government. He himself is also a former Deputy Chief of Staff and a hero for his actions on October 7 going south and saving lives, making his voice an important one that carries weight. 

So what was irresponsible? He should have chosen his words better. He should have spoken clearly and unequivocally, if he felt it was necessary to speak up, without leaving room for misinterpretation. There should have been no need for calling a press conference to clarify what he said - he should have said something like that clearly in the first place. 

If you dont think Israel should wipe out everyone in Gaza including babies, you should be upset at the members of the government who continue to campaign for that. And if you agree with Ministers Smotritch and Ben Gvir and with the others who have been speaking similarly, why are you upset at Golan for saying that this is what the government seems to want to do?

Golan spoke irresponsibly but not incorrectly

I didn't understand the strike threat for the education system, with accusations of cutting teachers salaries, and others [coalition] MKs screaming that instead of slashing teachers salaries other things should be slashed, and all that debate...

Didn't they just pass the annual budget 4-5 weeks ago? If some people had problems with the salaries of the teachers being slashed shouldn't they have argued it then when the budget was being passed? They voted for the budget letting this go through and now that it is being implemented they are screaming? Is this being changed from what was in the budget - so they pass a budget that they quickly ignore?

Besides for this teachers issue and possible strike, there is also fighting over a report of other possible monies being given to the Haredi education system in exchange for a promise to not topple the government over the Draft law that has not yet happened and looks like it wont be happening any time soon. Same question - wasn't the budget just passed?

What is going on with this budget?

I am not saying the teachers salaries should be cut or that this or that group should or should not be given monies not previously allocated. I am just not sure how so soon after the budget is passed they can have all these issues....

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The government has done some good things, specifically within the context of the war against Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran. I am not sure how to define when it can be said the government is functioning with siyata dshmaya and when it isnt so I will trust Rabbi Yosef on this matter. I just don't understand why it would come out as an issue with the draft law (which he called the draft exemption law) rather than anything else. This government has not had much good fortune in anything other than in the war itself, had a horrible attack on its watch, has had unprecedented number of terror attacks, has overseen the highest number of road deaths in Israel's history, has failed to pass many laws, has been dysfunctional in many ways. Maybe it is Ohana's fault, I dont know. 

Funny that he would point out specifically the draft law, which has not yet even come to vote. Maybe once it does it will be easy to pass - it certainly looks like the coalition likely has the numbers to pass it, considering they have fired and punished its main opponents and are threatening to fire others if they dont back down.

The article says the MIK Moshe Saada (Likud proposed a law to grant additional special benefits and whatnot to reservists. One of the clauses int he proposal states that any institution whose students do not draft to the IDF will not get any government allocations/budgets.

UTJ found this clause and says that this clause presents an existential danger to the yeshivas.

According to Yated, UTJ has let the Likud know that if this clause remains included in the law to be presented UTJ will see itself as not obligated to vote on other laws presented by the Likud demanding coalition support.

A few points:

1. Didnt the UTJ gedolim recently plan for decoupling the yeshivas from the government budgets and went out and raised $110 million (plus)? Why would this be such a serious problem for the yeshivas if this was already planned for?

2. Again, like what I pointed out yesterday, interestingly the threat is not to leave the government but to not vote on Likud law proposals in line with the coalition. A law proposal that UTJ is considering to be a serious threat against the yeshivas and UTJ isnt even bluffing with threats to leave the coalition!

I must say, it does seem that even though PM Netanyahu and some others in the Likud might not be on board yet, many in the Likud have had enough with the situation. They all know and recognize the crisis they would be causing when they say they won't support this or that by other coalition members, including the Haredi parties, and they are causing the crises anyway.. 

In light of the ongoing coalition crisis (which can fizz out just as easily and quickly as it can expand and intensify), here is what I think the various players should do, each from their perspective (as I understand it):

Itamar Ben Gvir: should resign and call for elections. Ben Gvir should declare himself as running for prime minister, no more being second fiddle to a party that is not as right wing as they claim to be.

Betzalel Smotritch: he has no hand to play, and he knows it. He has to just be as right wing extreme as he can and hope he doesnt get decimated in whatever happens next. He does not have the power to be proactive in this.

Moshe Gafni and Yitzchak Goldknopf: they don't have much of a hand. Quitting the coalition wont help them, but it also wont hurt them. If they have a serious enough crisis (eg yeshiva boys get drafted or arrested), they can quit. If not, they really have no reason to.

Aryeh Deri: he has a hand to play but has no real option. Bringing down the government won't really help them, but at some point, when they run out of complaints, they have to show they have some ideology behind them and not just looking for jobs. I dont think we are far off, if things keep not falling their way, but I dont think they are there just yet.

Benjamin Netanyahu: He should resign from politics, but he wont. Bring down the government, dissolve the Knesset, and call for elections, while stepping away from politics. If he does that now, his legacy is gone and destroyed and will only be remembered as having presided over the worst attack and massacre with all the failures involved, and having abandoned the hostages. So he can't do that, at least not now. He won't do that until he rebuilds his image a bit, and will need a big win for that to happen.

Netanyahu should take advantage of this current crisis, along with the other recent coalition crises, and say he has had enough (he has done this before in previous governments). He should blame the heads of all the parties for their bickering, blackmail, irresponsible behavior, and unreasonable demands. he should blame them for the impossibility of coming to a hostage deal (while stressing most of the blame is on Hamas). 

Netanyahu should declare that after elections he will move to form a unity government, not an extreme Right government. He needs to get into discussions with Gantz and Lieberman and others from the other parties (specifically the more center leaning parties) to talk about forming a government together, maybe as a rotation, though it can only work if Netanyahu offers to go second in rotation rather than first. Nobody will trust him to follow through with rotating when the time comes. Obviously specifics will depend on results of elections and which comes out the bigger party, but in general that is what he should be doing.

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Today the Israeli government connected Gaza to the Israeli power grid and let the electricity flow.

Now, if Benny Gantz would still be in the government coalition and War Cabinet, Ministers Ben Gvir and Smotritch (among others) would be screaming that Gantz needs to go, the Conceptzia Cabinet is destroying the war effort, Gantz is insisting we lose the war by giving them electricity and other aid, etc. But alas, Gantz is not in the government and Ben Gvir has nobody to blame and scream about other than his natural partners who he can only attack so much.

So now, with nobody to scream at, the full right wing government turns on the electricity in Gaza with nothing in return and nobody says a word.

This government is a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma..

They should be held as prisoners and only release din a hostage exchange deal, if at all. Why are we releasing terrorist prisoners, for free, while our hostages are sitting in Gaza? Are they also offering goodwill gestures and releasing Israelis for free?

Yet all the people at the top, responsible for this decision, know nothing about it, only heard from the news, and pass the blame each to another office. Take some responsibility!

And having no control and really not knowing about it is no excuse. that might be even worse.

There has been a little criticism of this, which I disagree with. I think the criticism, little as it was, was based on the timing - during a war with hostages and all that, the money should be directed to the war effort, supporting the wounded, etc. I disagree with this sentiment. There are plenty of people out there donating to all sorts of causes. If all donations are to be stopped and redirected to the war effort, where is the criticism of donations to cancer research at this time or to supporting the needy or to any other cause? Only donations to yeshivas draw criticism?

Thankfully there are lots of different people with different priorities and that way all different sorts of causes can get supported.

That being said, anybody who thinks this fund creating increased financial independence of the Haredi community, independence from the government and its demands, are, I think, sorely mistaken.

One can argue whether the government should or should not support institutions that encourage dodging the draft. However, even if the government does not fund them and instead those institutions attract money from elsewhere, that still does not exempt them from the laws and societal obligations that everyone else is tied down with. They are citizens like anyone else and the mandatory draft applies to them equally, even if they do not get the budgets they want. 

This financial independence will not secure them quiet on this front. They need the financial independence and should continue working toward it, but they should not expect that this will effect a release from the claims that they must share the burden. the suggestion that freeing themselves from the government budgets would win them quiet from the draft was always a red herring and a false equivalence.

Over the past couple of days they have really hit rock bottom with the fighting over the draft law and then even more so the rabbanim law and now bickering over who is at fault and who should be polygraphed - and let's not forget the video clip PM Netanyahu made about the US government stopping arms shipments to which the US government replied that they dont know what he is talking about as all shipments have been processed as expected and only one had been held up temporarily....

While one might think they cant get any worse, any more dysfunctional, I believe they will continue to prove me wrong and will find ways to accomplish it!

  -- Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf, in an interview with Yishai Cohen of Kikar Shabbos

wow

as disconnected as he sounds, I have no doubt that at least many in the government are looking for ways to avoid facing the public after the war, or to drag it out long enough the rage goes down enough to allow them to avoid culpability in any sense

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The lawyer representing the government argued at one point that the Declaration of Independence should not be binding in obligating anyone today in anything, considering it was signed hastily by 32 people who were not elected by the people.

The government is really arguing that the Declaration of Independence is basically null and void? To me this seems worse than Herzl's consideration of Uganda as a [temporary] solution for getting the Jews out of danger.

The Declaration of Independence is a worthless document because it was hastily signed by 32 unelected people?

What else can be dismissed so easily?

the Balfour Declaration is worthless.

The Jewishness of the State can be dismissed

The democratic nature of the state can be dismissed.

the UN vote to support the establishment of the State of Israel can be dismissed.

The Status Quo can be dismissed (1 person signed a hastily constructed agreement with the Haredi reps of the day and it should be binding on us 70 years later?)

There are probably plenty others.

Satmar says thank you to the current government. As does Mahmoud Abbas and anyone else who decides from today that they can take Israel's right wing government's own words about the illegitimacy of the founding of the State (it was declared hastily by unelected people) to international bodies around the world to delegitimize the State of Israel.

Just today such demands were made by, at least, MKs Lapid, Gantz and Biton.

We are watching with interest. 

The main characters in this little incident are Shas and Otzma Yehudit, Deri and Ben Gvir. Basically agreements are being broken all around, with Ben Gvir mostly being on the losing end. Shas is pushing off the elections for Chief Rabbi, and Otzma is upset about that. Otzma (via Minister Amichai Eliyahu) let it out on the Governor of the Bank of Israel today calling him names and saying he should be tossed out for "working against the government", and Otzma caught an earful from pretty much everyone else in the government. Otzma, according to the coalition agreements, is supposed to have the government representative in the selection committee for justices, and it looks like the coalition will snub them and appoint someone from Shas instead - because he is easier to work with.

The verbal attacks and accusations are flying in every direction each calling the other anything from leftists to motivated by self-interests to failed ministers and failed party, weak links, etc.

This is not going to end well. All we can do is sit by the side and watch with interest. Will this lead to an implosion or will Bibi work his magic after everyone gets everything off their chests and calm everyone down and pay them off with more money for their ministries and projects to be quiet?