🗳️ Segal reports possible Gur abstention; Goldknopf sets conditions: Amit Segal reported this evening, citing senior Agudat Yisrael officials, that party chairman MK Yitzhak Goldknopf would abstain rather than vote against an Eisenkot-led minority government, as part of a break with Netanyahu’s bloc. Sources within the Gur Hasidic community said its two MKs, Goldknopf and Yaakov Tesler, would not oppose such a government. Segal described Gur as Agudat Yisrael’s second-largest faction.
Responding to the report, Goldknopf said: “Agudat Yisrael will not support the formation of a government, nor will it provide outside support to any government, without securing the status of yeshiva students and passing a conscription law with no sanctions and no enlistment quotas.”
Winter said: “Now it’s clear to everyone — Goldknopf is not part of the right-wing camp and, in truth, never was. Am Yisrael will lead the formation of a broad right-wing government that does not depend on Goldknopf.”
Gantz said: “The report proves that if a cross-bloc Zionist government is not formed, we’ll get more of the same: another narrow government dependent on draft dodgers, or one dependent on the Arab parties, or, in the ‘best’ case, yet another election.”
Segal attributed Gur’s reported position both to hopes of receiving something in return and to deep anger toward Netanyahu. He said its leadership wants to signal that Netanyahu’s time is up and that the Gerrer Rebbe considers him politically finished. Segal also suggested the report could help explain Eisenkot’s repeated references to ultra-Orthodox and Arab parties in discussions of potential political support.
The sources believe the rest of Agudat Yisrael, United Torah Judaism’s Hasidic faction, would join them, and that Degel HaTorah, its Lithuanian faction, would ultimately abstain as well. Segal stressed that he did not know whether either would follow.
He noted that Rabbi Hirsch had called yesterday for doing everything possible to prevent the “left” from gaining strength. Some interpreted this as referring to the political left. Segal noted that the term can also refer in ultra-Orthodox discourse to the Sitra Achra, the mystical “Other Side” associated with impurity and evil.
In Segal’s assessment, such abstentions could change the parliamentary calculation after the elections. A 54–54 tie between Netanyahu’s bloc and Eisenkot’s bloc, previously viewed as sufficient to block an Eisenkot government, would no longer provide that assurance. Under the scenario he outlined, Netanyahu’s bloc would need to exceed Eisenkot’s by two seats.
🗳️ Joint List criticizes Ra’am candidate: The Joint List accused Ra’am candidate Segalovich of joining a “fascist incitement campaign against the Arab vote,” following his remarks about Abu Shehadeh.
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