Leading Shas rabbi suggests forming Haredi bloc, including extremists, to maximize demands

Moshe Maya, a senior member of Shas’s ruling Council of Torah Sages, says Haredi voters should form a bloc to maximize how much they will be able to demand in coalition talks following Tuesday’s election.

At present, the Haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, are close allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and have been members of successive governments of his. They are often aligned in their policies, including staunch opposition to requiring Haredi men to serve in the military.

In remarks at an educational conference in Jerusalem, Maya suggests that, rather than committing to Netanyahu, Haredim of different backgrounds and ideologies unite to form a bloc that could act as a kingmaker in the election. He specifies that such an alliance should include the extremist Jerusalem Faction, which organizes street protests against Haredi enlistment.

“Including the Jerusalem Faction, we’ll be 25 seats [in the Knesset]. We won’t enter any government,” he says. The Haredi parties are collectively polling at 15 to 17 seats in the 120-seat parliament.

“You don’t go with anyone, not Bibi and not Eisenkot,” he continues, referring to Netanyahu and opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot. “Whoever will give more.”

With polls opening in some 36 hours, it is unlikely that Maya’s speech will have a significant impact on the Haredi vote.