Shmarya Rosenberg

Eisenkot, Golan and Liberman all ran on drafting the Haredim. Now all three look ready to break that promise rather than sit with the Arab parties: 1) Liberman went into the election with three pledges: no sitting with the Arabs, no sitting with Netanyahu, no sitting with the Haredim. On Friday he dropped the third. He wrote that his party will “be flexible and compromise,” “including the draft law.” He kept his veto on Ra’am and the Joint List, even if they only abstain. 2) The draft is the issue Liberman built his brand on. In 2019 he refused to join Netanyahu’s coalition over the draft law, which forced a repeat election. Now he calls compromising on it “painful” but necessary. 3) During the campaign, Eisenkot promised “no compromise” on the draft law, Haredim included. His partners are now saying publicly that this promise is up for negotiation. 4) Eisenkot has made recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization a condition for joining his coalition. That condition targets the Arab parties. The Haredi parties face no comparable test. 5) Eisenkot’s camp has been weighing a setup in which UTJ abstains on the government’s swearing-in and joins later. Liberman has ruled out the same arrangement with the Arab parties. 6) Golan has spent years demanding that the Haredim serve. On Friday he posted that there is “real progress” toward a change government. He said nothing about the draft. 7) Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon, who is close to both Liberman and the Haredi parties, is reportedly mediating between the sides. 8) UTJ refused to recommend Netanyahu to President Herzog. Its newspaper Yated Ne’eman wrote that the party would back whichever candidate offers “the best and most legal arrangement,” meaning on the draft. It is waiting for the best offer, and the change bloc is negotiating with it. Ra’am and the Joint List gave Eisenkot 19 of his 67 recommendations. Without them, he would not have the mandate. The Arab parties got him the mandate, but they are kept out of the government. The Haredim refused to recommend him, and they are the ones being offered a deal on the draft. The racism in Israel trascends political lines and there is nothing these men wouldn't do to avoid bringing the Arabs into the coalition.