On Tuesday afternoon in Bnei Brak, the Degel HaTorah Party conference opened with the participation of party chairman Moshe Gafni and MKs Uri Maklev, Yaakov Asher, and Yitzhak Pindrus.
In a panel moderated by journalist Aryeh Zissman, MK Gafni said: "We are angry with our colleagues in the right-wing bloc who boycotted the work of the committees. If we had all been present in the committees and embarrassed the [government] as successfully as we did in the Knesset, we would now have a stable right-wing government."
Gafni uttered harsh words about Deputy Minister Matan Kahana and Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel: "There are some people who, in our view, are completely beyond the pale, such as Matan Kahana who is now receiving his punishment and has been forced into exile. Also Yoaz Hendel who sat with rabbis and community leaders and treated them terribly; he too is receiving his punishment and walking around as if in exile. We hope that this punishment will also reach former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and MK Avigdor Lieberman. In two weeks' time, Bennett and Kahana will no longer hold the Religious Affairs Ministry. It is the Holy One Who runs the world. Bennett, the stuffed animal, doesn't talk to us."
MK Gafni also addressed the question of whether the Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael parties will run together in the upcoming election, saying, "The issue is one of principles, and we will start from the premise that every hassid has to listen to his rebbe, but it is unthinkable that we will receive instructions from Rabbi Edelstein on fundamental issues like education and the military draft and then arrive at a faction meeting only to discover that someone decided otherwise without even telling me where that decision came from. Such things are not going to be happening anymore."
Also speaking at the conference was MK Uri Maklev, who said: "Those who are familiar with the statistics are aware that the haredi community funds public transportation throughout the country. Those who spearheaded the war against the reforms in public transportation are the members of the Degel HaTorah party, and as soon as we return to power after the elections, we will cancel this reform.''
MK Gafni was also blunt in his opposition to the new chairman of the Agudat Yisrael party, Yitzhak Goldknopf, leading the United Torah Judaism list in the run-up to elections. "They would put a person at the head of the list who hasn't spent a single day in the Knesset. We [Degel] bring the most votes [of the haredi sector] and have the most experience."
Gafni also attacked MK Meir Porush: "Because of Agudat Yisrael's opposition to the Draft Law, we were left without a law. Just compare the law that we could have passed to what is now before us."
Officials at Agudat Yisrael dismissed MK Gafni's criticism and told IsraelNational News: "The Draft Law that is in place now is much better than the law that Degal HaTorah formulated with Liberman, and even Maklev knows that. If we had passed the law being promoted by Liberman and the Degel HaTorah party, we would have been facing extremely severe economic sanctions by now. In order to be able to attack MK Porush, Gafni has to ignore the statistics," the sources said.
Earlier today, at the Channel 13 News conference, MK Bezalel Smotrich discussed running with the Otzma Yehudit party and said, "Everyone who follows what I do knows that I make political moves behind closed doors. Negotiations are done behind closed doors. We run together so that the Religious Zionism Party should continue to be a strong presence. Ben-Gvir is a legitimate player in the political system."
Regarding the Arab members of the Knesset, Smotrich said, "The past year has benefited our worst enemies. MK Mansour Abbas is more dangerous than Ayman Odeh because he conceals his ambitions and goals. This is what Hamas has also been doing of late. These people are the enemies of the State of Israel. They have no place in the Knesset and they are only in the Knesset because of the way the Supreme Court manipulates the language of the law."
According to MK Smotrich, former Prime Minister Bennett and MK Ayelet Shaked should no longer have a place in the Knesset and the government until they do some soul searching. "We were once partners and friends. This group is responsible for the rise of those who support terrorism and the destruction of Israeli democracy, with a prime minister with only six seats. They abused the trust of Israeli citizens, who are now convinced that all politicians are liars," he said.
Smotrich added, "We parted ways before the last election when I sat with Bennett and heard where he was headed, and I responded that I do not work with lies, fraud, and enormous damage to the country. Whoever was involved in this does not deserve to continue in politics…."