"Agudah [United Torah Judaism] is already practically in the government," they say in Shas, "so why shouldn't we go in as well?"
"Ehud Olmert can form a government without us," they say in Agudah, "so let's at least try to save what we can."
Wrong! The claim that Olmert has already practically completed forming his convergence-uprooting-expulsion government, and that the hareidi-religious parties are merely an "extra", is a lie - and if we allow it to go unchallenged, we are liable to find ourselves with tens of thousands more homeless Jews and a bunch of excuses from the religious parties.
Why? Simple math. At present, Olmert has exactly 60 MKs who want to join his government: 29 of Kadima, 19 from Labor, 7 Pensioners, and 5 from Meretz. That's a total of 60, and not even one more. This is not a majority. Does anyone really believe that Olmert, who said, "I will form a government that is as broad-based as possible," would want to present such a paltry coalition to the nation and to the Knesset? Does he want to have to rely forever on the votes of the Arabs to prop it up? No chance in the world.
Olmert needs another party in order to form his government, period.
So, you'll say, "Okay, he'll take Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party." Not so fast. Olmert himself has said, and justifiably so, that he does not want a government that any coalition partner can topple on any whim. This means that including Lieberman is not yet enough for Olmert; he still needs another religious-Hareidi party.
For this reason, the Hareidi parties cannot claim, "There is already a government without us." It's simply not true. If the Hareidi parties stand strong, Olmert will not be able to form the government of his choice that will carry out his evil scheme of destroying Judea and Samaria.
Given these circumstances, every religious-Hareidi party that joins the coalition - and it doesn't matter how much money is promised - will not be able to claim, "Our hands did not spill this blood." Their hands will have spilt, and how. The destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities, yeshivas, schools and synagogues will be registered on their name.
It will be said: "But Olmert has promised that the word 'convergence' won't appear in the coalition guidelines." Come on. This is not a game. There is not a child in the country who does not know that Olmert is determined to run away from Judea and Samaria, leaving destruction in his wake. And if this happens, Heaven forbid, we will have once again returned to the starting point: it will be the religious parties joining the government now who will have paved the way for the destruction later.
What's the alternative? Simple: Shas and Agudah must - must! - stand together with strength and with faith, and say: 'We will be willing to join the coalition, together, if and only if the guidelines say specifically there will be no convergence plan.' That's it.
It's true that we're not used to standing so firmly against the institutional powers that be, but there's always a first time. A groundswell of public pressure must arise and demand of the above parties, and their leaders and guides, not to repeat the mistakes of the past, not to give in to despair, not to look at the other party and say, 'He joined first,' and not to blink before Kadima does. Just say "no!"
And if, Heaven forbid, the worst happens and Olmert decides to go with the Arab parties? So, let him go. At least the religious-Hareidi community will be able to stand proud and say, "We have repented, we stood together, we did not make the same mistake again." And out of this unity and faith, we will, with G-d's help, truly be able to arise and rebuild ourselves together - religious and Hareidim - against all those who raise their hand against us.
"Ehud Olmert can form a government without us," they say in Agudah, "so let's at least try to save what we can."
Wrong! The claim that Olmert has already practically completed forming his convergence-uprooting-expulsion government, and that the hareidi-religious parties are merely an "extra", is a lie - and if we allow it to go unchallenged, we are liable to find ourselves with tens of thousands more homeless Jews and a bunch of excuses from the religious parties.
Why? Simple math. At present, Olmert has exactly 60 MKs who want to join his government: 29 of Kadima, 19 from Labor, 7 Pensioners, and 5 from Meretz. That's a total of 60, and not even one more. This is not a majority. Does anyone really believe that Olmert, who said, "I will form a government that is as broad-based as possible," would want to present such a paltry coalition to the nation and to the Knesset? Does he want to have to rely forever on the votes of the Arabs to prop it up? No chance in the world.
Olmert needs another party in order to form his government, period.
So, you'll say, "Okay, he'll take Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party." Not so fast. Olmert himself has said, and justifiably so, that he does not want a government that any coalition partner can topple on any whim. This means that including Lieberman is not yet enough for Olmert; he still needs another religious-Hareidi party.
For this reason, the Hareidi parties cannot claim, "There is already a government without us." It's simply not true. If the Hareidi parties stand strong, Olmert will not be able to form the government of his choice that will carry out his evil scheme of destroying Judea and Samaria.
Given these circumstances, every religious-Hareidi party that joins the coalition - and it doesn't matter how much money is promised - will not be able to claim, "Our hands did not spill this blood." Their hands will have spilt, and how. The destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities, yeshivas, schools and synagogues will be registered on their name.
It will be said: "But Olmert has promised that the word 'convergence' won't appear in the coalition guidelines." Come on. This is not a game. There is not a child in the country who does not know that Olmert is determined to run away from Judea and Samaria, leaving destruction in his wake. And if this happens, Heaven forbid, we will have once again returned to the starting point: it will be the religious parties joining the government now who will have paved the way for the destruction later.
What's the alternative? Simple: Shas and Agudah must - must! - stand together with strength and with faith, and say: 'We will be willing to join the coalition, together, if and only if the guidelines say specifically there will be no convergence plan.' That's it.
It's true that we're not used to standing so firmly against the institutional powers that be, but there's always a first time. A groundswell of public pressure must arise and demand of the above parties, and their leaders and guides, not to repeat the mistakes of the past, not to give in to despair, not to look at the other party and say, 'He joined first,' and not to blink before Kadima does. Just say "no!"
And if, Heaven forbid, the worst happens and Olmert decides to go with the Arab parties? So, let him go. At least the religious-Hareidi community will be able to stand proud and say, "We have repented, we stood together, we did not make the same mistake again." And out of this unity and faith, we will, with G-d's help, truly be able to arise and rebuild ourselves together - religious and Hareidim - against all those who raise their hand against us.