Yehuda Wald, Chairman of the Religious Zionist Party, published a strong tweet on Tuesday afternoon against Knesset members and ministers from the haredi parties, accusing them of thwarting the struggle against Hamas and prioritizing political interests over state security.
"Where does their audacity come from?! To voice their opinion on the vote and walk away; to call for a ceasefire, knowing that Hamas will remain intact and strengthen its forces, "Wald wrote, "after all, we are the ones who are going to fight and die before and after the next massacre. Not them."
Wald claimed that the calls for a ceasefire are not driven by genuine concern for Israel's security, but rather by a desire to appease the Left wing parties and prevent significant legislation on the draft law. "And all for what? To be applauded by the Left and indicate to them not to insist on significant draft legislation, in return for what they will receive, i.e. what the left believes in – to surrender to Hamas." He concluded his remarks saying: "This is a shameful situation."
In response to the claims, Chairman of the Degel HaTorah party, MK Moshe Gafni, stated: "Please respect our consistent position regarding the release of the hostages. We have maintained our position without changing our minds. This is our position, this is the directive of the great Torah sages and we stand behind it. There is no connection to all this nonsense claiming that it is related to other matters."
"I have been accustomed to this for many years in the Finance Committee, where I do my work for the benefit of all sectors of the Israeli society, and time and time again someone invents excuses that the reason for this is because I receive other benefits, and all sorts of other nonsense."
Senior Shas officials claimed that "there is no connection between this and the draft law. It is a grave injustice to connect the issue of the hostages, which is sacred to us and an important Jewish commandment, to the draft law. We will vote in favor of a hostage deal suggested by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even if there is no draft law. The draft law itself is extremely important to the haredi public, and all the members of the Religious Zionism parties who oppose it even before seeing its clauses are partners in the Left's campaign to topple the Right wing government."
Wald responded to statements made by the leaders of Shas and United Torah Judaism that they would support the promotion of the second stage of the hostage deal. Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf expressed a similar sentiment, and senior Shas officials, Aryeh Deri and Yoav Ben Tzur, publicly backed Netanyahu in promoting the second stage of the deal.
"We will support you all the way," declared Labor Minister Ben Tzur at the National Labor Federation conference. "I appeal to Netanyahu – go all the way with the deal," he called, clarifying that if necessary, "we will know how to return to intense warfare."
Meanwhile, at a faction meeting last night, Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri connected the party's support to the legacy of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, of blessed memory.
"We know how important the issue was to Rabbi Ovadia. From day one, the entire Shas movement, has supported the battle to collapse Hamas and deprive it of its military and governmental capabilities, but on the other hand, the hostages are always our main consideration. In the first deal, we brought home close to 100 hostages, not all of them agreed with us, and now as well. I respect those who disagree with us. I understand the concerns, this is a very difficult deal, with difficult prices, but we have to save lives.
Deri added: "We will put in great effort to ensure that the last of the hostages returns home. These are not empty declarations or threats. No one is being threatened. We are commanded to do this and we will do everything in our power to ensure that the last of the hostages come back, whether alive or not alive. How do you do it? I don't ask questions. We know what we need to do. Even those who didn't believe it would happen, now see that it is happening, and it will continue to happen, God willing."