Rabbi Yitzchak Levy, leader of the National Religious Party, spoke with Moti Zaft of the HaTzofeh newspaper about the curious fact that his party, which was possibly the leading supporter of both Ariel Sharon and a national unity government, found itself not included in the government. Rabbi Levy was asked if he believes Sharon who told him that he wants to include the NRP in the government, and Levy said, \"I don\'t know, but it doesn\'t matter. We are right now outside. If he makes a proposal, we will think about it.\" In response to another question, Levy said, \"To a certain degree, yes, I do think so [that he betrayed us]. He should have started negotiations with the public that supported and made great efforts for him, and that identifies with him ideologically on many issues... I can\'t get away from the feeling that if he really wanted to, he would have come to an agreement with us. I am convinced that solutions could have been found. There was just no desire to do so.\"
Rabbi Levy said, \"We are not upset, and we are certainly not upset with the People of Israel, and we continue to feel that a unity government is very important. We feel that without the NRP, this is a unity government that is lacking, but we will continue ahead with our work for the public... The side that was at fault was the Likud, not us. We need not feel degraded, and there is no crisis. We continue ahead.\"
When asked about the specific point of contention that prevented an agreement, Rabbi Levy said, \"It was our status in the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The Likud gave us a proposal that would nullify totally our influence there, and would give entire control to Shas. We felt that we could not continue under such conditions... The Likud made a big mistake, in my opinion, because it created an unnecessary opposition for himself. The unity is not complete. The Likud has lost a constructive partnership.\"
Journalist Zaft posed the following question: \"Some say that there are more knitted yarmulkes [religious Zionists] in the Likud than all the NRP voters put together. Are you not afraid that if the NRP remains in the opposition, the Likud will help out the national-religious institutions, and then the national-religious public will see that it can get along without the NRP?\"
Rabbi Levy: \"Of course this concern exists, and this is why our public is always looking to other pastures. This is the tragedy of religious Zionism since 1982. People said then that Tami helps out more, that Moledet helps out more, that Techiya, and Tzomet, and the Likud - they all help out more. But at the end everyone reaches the same conclusion, that this is not true. When news that I was considering resigning was publicized, the people who called me to ask me not to do this were heads of institutions. They know the work that I did in the field. Therefore, if the national-religious public would finally understand that they must unite around one political body, we would not have had all the problems of the last two years. We are a party of five Knesset seats that has to worry about the institutions that represent a public of 22 MKs. This is above and beyond our abilities. The national-religious public must decide once and for all if it wants a party that represents its ideology in toto, or it is willing to settle for parties that represent it only partially. The Likud, after all, has a different agenda. Even if it came and gave us 10 million shekels for the hesder yeshivot, it would give the same to [anti-Torah elements].\"
Rabbi Levy said, \"We are not upset, and we are certainly not upset with the People of Israel, and we continue to feel that a unity government is very important. We feel that without the NRP, this is a unity government that is lacking, but we will continue ahead with our work for the public... The side that was at fault was the Likud, not us. We need not feel degraded, and there is no crisis. We continue ahead.\"
When asked about the specific point of contention that prevented an agreement, Rabbi Levy said, \"It was our status in the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The Likud gave us a proposal that would nullify totally our influence there, and would give entire control to Shas. We felt that we could not continue under such conditions... The Likud made a big mistake, in my opinion, because it created an unnecessary opposition for himself. The unity is not complete. The Likud has lost a constructive partnership.\"
Journalist Zaft posed the following question: \"Some say that there are more knitted yarmulkes [religious Zionists] in the Likud than all the NRP voters put together. Are you not afraid that if the NRP remains in the opposition, the Likud will help out the national-religious institutions, and then the national-religious public will see that it can get along without the NRP?\"
Rabbi Levy: \"Of course this concern exists, and this is why our public is always looking to other pastures. This is the tragedy of religious Zionism since 1982. People said then that Tami helps out more, that Moledet helps out more, that Techiya, and Tzomet, and the Likud - they all help out more. But at the end everyone reaches the same conclusion, that this is not true. When news that I was considering resigning was publicized, the people who called me to ask me not to do this were heads of institutions. They know the work that I did in the field. Therefore, if the national-religious public would finally understand that they must unite around one political body, we would not have had all the problems of the last two years. We are a party of five Knesset seats that has to worry about the institutions that represent a public of 22 MKs. This is above and beyond our abilities. The national-religious public must decide once and for all if it wants a party that represents its ideology in toto, or it is willing to settle for parties that represent it only partially. The Likud, after all, has a different agenda. Even if it came and gave us 10 million shekels for the hesder yeshivot, it would give the same to [anti-Torah elements].\"