The decision by the right-wing religious party to cooperate with the Kadima-led government has caused a storm within religious-Zionist circles.
One member of the National Union, Ze'ev Orenstein, who ran for Knesset on behalf of the party in the last election, albeit in a slot considered to be not realistic, said,
"Here is the perfect chance for the NU-NRP to establish itself as the true opposition in the Knesset; as faithful to the Nation, Land and Torah of Israel, and faithful to the State of Israel existing as a Jewish State - but instead, we are playing political games, showing ourselves to be no better than the MKs in Likud, NRP, Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas and UTJ (and just as buyable) – and our voters will not let us forget that. Where is our leadership? Where is our commitment to our principles? Is everything justifiable in the name of being pragmatic and real politik?"
National Union MK Tzvi Hendel defended his party's decision, which he said was unanimous within the party faction: "We're not a youth movement, and this is not just a protest rally. We have to bring results, and we have to answer to many people's genuine needs. There are institutions, schools, hesder yeshivot, expellees from Gush Katif who have been mistreated by the government, institutions in Judea and Samaria, and they all are suffering and they all have to be taken care of."
Hendel explained that his party has made it clear to Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson that the agreement will be null and void if it emerges that the NU/NRP's votes would allow the budget to be passed.
"We're not supporting the government," MK Hendel said, "and we would never do that. However, to abstain in order to save entire systems that are important for the entire country - this is the proper decision."
"The [left-wing opposition party] Meretz is furious," Hendel said, "because it sees the Kadima government making deals with us to save things in Judea and Samaria... I can somewhat understand the younger people in our camp who attack us for our decision, but I don't understand the older ones."
The 122-million shekel ($27.3 million) deal includes the following sums:
37 million shekels for religious high schools
22 million shekels for the year-long National Service programs
8 million for hesder yeshivot (combining Torah study with army service)
2.5 million for Gush Katif expellees
2.5 million for Jewish projects in eastern Jerusalem
50 million for various institutions that promote religious Zionism and Jewish identity in Judea and Samaria and elsewhere
Uri Bank, chairman of the executive board of Moledet, one of the three parties comprising the National Union, told Arutz-7 today,
"Some critics say that the only way to weaken Olmert and to hasten his toppling is by opposing him in each vote. But this isn't necessarily true. We have weakened him by taking money from him and showing how weak his coalition really is. [Financial/political analyst] Nechemia Shtrassler wrote as much in Haaretz today."
Shtrassler wrote,
"The result of the lack of management [in the coalition] can be seen in the castration of the budget's arrangements law and the success of the MKs in removing large parts of it. In addition, Hirschson was forced to pay 600 million shekels to the opposition parties in order to enable the budget to pass. The coalition is crumbling."
Yisrael Beiteinu, another right-wing opposition party, also made a similar deal with the coalition, receiving 185 million shekels for causes it deemed appropriate.
Yisrael Beiteinu has 11 MKs, and NU/NRP - 9.
But the best deal of all was effected by United Torah Judaism, which received 290 million shekels for its 6 MKs. "But it's a verbal deal," Bank said, "while ours is in writing. In addition, the original offer to UTJ was 400 million shekels, but they would have had to join the coalition. Our agreement set the precedent for receiving funding without having to join - and this paved the way for UTJ to do the same, and this is good for us in that it will keep them out of the coalition for longer."
Why so little for Gush Katif? Various National Union members said that the question should be directed to MK Nissan Slomiansky (NRP), who was more involved in the quantitative aspects of the agreement. Attempts to reach him by press time were unsuccessful, however.
One member of the National Union, Ze'ev Orenstein, who ran for Knesset on behalf of the party in the last election, albeit in a slot considered to be not realistic, said,
"Here is the perfect chance for the NU-NRP to establish itself as the true opposition in the Knesset; as faithful to the Nation, Land and Torah of Israel, and faithful to the State of Israel existing as a Jewish State - but instead, we are playing political games, showing ourselves to be no better than the MKs in Likud, NRP, Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas and UTJ (and just as buyable) – and our voters will not let us forget that. Where is our leadership? Where is our commitment to our principles? Is everything justifiable in the name of being pragmatic and real politik?"
National Union MK Tzvi Hendel defended his party's decision, which he said was unanimous within the party faction: "We're not a youth movement, and this is not just a protest rally. We have to bring results, and we have to answer to many people's genuine needs. There are institutions, schools, hesder yeshivot, expellees from Gush Katif who have been mistreated by the government, institutions in Judea and Samaria, and they all are suffering and they all have to be taken care of."
Hendel explained that his party has made it clear to Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson that the agreement will be null and void if it emerges that the NU/NRP's votes would allow the budget to be passed.
"We're not supporting the government," MK Hendel said, "and we would never do that. However, to abstain in order to save entire systems that are important for the entire country - this is the proper decision."
"The [left-wing opposition party] Meretz is furious," Hendel said, "because it sees the Kadima government making deals with us to save things in Judea and Samaria... I can somewhat understand the younger people in our camp who attack us for our decision, but I don't understand the older ones."
The 122-million shekel ($27.3 million) deal includes the following sums:
37 million shekels for religious high schools
22 million shekels for the year-long National Service programs
8 million for hesder yeshivot (combining Torah study with army service)
2.5 million for Gush Katif expellees
2.5 million for Jewish projects in eastern Jerusalem
50 million for various institutions that promote religious Zionism and Jewish identity in Judea and Samaria and elsewhere
Uri Bank, chairman of the executive board of Moledet, one of the three parties comprising the National Union, told Arutz-7 today,
"Some critics say that the only way to weaken Olmert and to hasten his toppling is by opposing him in each vote. But this isn't necessarily true. We have weakened him by taking money from him and showing how weak his coalition really is. [Financial/political analyst] Nechemia Shtrassler wrote as much in Haaretz today."
Shtrassler wrote,
"The result of the lack of management [in the coalition] can be seen in the castration of the budget's arrangements law and the success of the MKs in removing large parts of it. In addition, Hirschson was forced to pay 600 million shekels to the opposition parties in order to enable the budget to pass. The coalition is crumbling."
Yisrael Beiteinu, another right-wing opposition party, also made a similar deal with the coalition, receiving 185 million shekels for causes it deemed appropriate.
Yisrael Beiteinu has 11 MKs, and NU/NRP - 9.
But the best deal of all was effected by United Torah Judaism, which received 290 million shekels for its 6 MKs. "But it's a verbal deal," Bank said, "while ours is in writing. In addition, the original offer to UTJ was 400 million shekels, but they would have had to join the coalition. Our agreement set the precedent for receiving funding without having to join - and this paved the way for UTJ to do the same, and this is good for us in that it will keep them out of the coalition for longer."
Why so little for Gush Katif? Various National Union members said that the question should be directed to MK Nissan Slomiansky (NRP), who was more involved in the quantitative aspects of the agreement. Attempts to reach him by press time were unsuccessful, however.