Deri, Goldknopf spar over Haredi draft exemption law, support for government

Speaking to party newspaper Haderech, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri appears to launch a veiled attack on the Agudat Yisrael faction of fellow ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism, sparking an angry response from UTJ and Agudat Yisrael chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf.

Last summer, the Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties backed off a threat to dissolve the Knesset and trigger early elections over a dispute about a bill exempting yeshiva students from conscription. In the end, only two lawmakers from Agudat Yisrael voted in favor of dissolution.

“There are those who claimed that because of the conscription law, we should have toppled the government a year and a half ago, even during the war. But one must ask: what would such a step mean for security? Where is the responsibility?” asks Deri, wondering whether those in favor of such a move would be willing to hand over power to the current opposition.

Hitting back, UTJ chief Goldknopf says he was “shocked to see how a Haredi representative expresses himself with such disparagement toward the gedolei yisrael,” a phrase referring to the Haredi community’s top rabbinic leadership.

Such criticism of the party’s rabbis “is an affront to the honor of the Torah, and I protest against it,” Goldknopf says, accusing Deri of placing the pursuit of government positions and influence ahead of “the regulation of the status of yeshiva students.”

In response, Shas issues a statement saying that it also operates under the guidance of a rabbinic council and respects any politicians who obey their rabbis, adding that “if any other tone was implied, we regret it.”