Members of the Yisrael Beytenu party found themselves on the outside looking in last week amid a flurry of important diplomatic developments, including the unveiling of the deal of the century and the release of Naama Issachar from Russian prison.
Early last week the party released video clips disparaging the ultra-Orthodox population, hoping to divert some of the country's attention back to matters of religion and state. Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman's conduct, meanwhile, has caused some divisions among haredi parties in recent days. The Shas party said it doesn't need to respond or address Lieberman at all, while United Torah Judaism made the strategic decision to answer back and attack him after every video or public statement about haredim.
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"Yes, Lieberman says terrible things about the haredi public," a Shas official said. "The worst is that he lies all the time, starting with the video clips with fake statistics about kosher supervisors, and in general, this is the man who helped the haredim the most all these years on any issue; it's just that the moment he was up against the electoral threshold he chose to attack them to bolster himself."
According to the official, "Lieberman is lost in this election campaign. It is about diplomatic issues and 'yes-Bibi, no-Bibi.' Lieberman is rudderless and could fade away, so he's pumping up the haredi topic. UTJ is playing into his hands. They're making a grave mistake. Any reaction on their part only fuels Lieberman's campaign and keeps the issue on the national agenda. If we completely ignore him he will fade away and become irrelevant and pathetic."
Earlier in the week, Shar Chairman Aryeh Deri launched his party's election campaign by lambasting Lieberman over his intention to join the left-wing bloc, but party officials said the move "wasn't about attacking Lieberman but about strengthening the right-wing bloc, while delivering a message to right-wing voters who want to vote for Lieberman."
Officials in United Torah Judaism say publicly that they decided to respond to Lieberman so as not to let his slanders go unanswered, but behind the scenes, party officials are using Yisrael Beytenu's attacks for their own benefit.
UTJ's election campaign makes note of the threats to the haredi public issued by Lieberman and Blue and White co-leader Yair Lapid, in order to impassion their constituency and hit their goal of receiving all the haredi votes.
In response to Shas, UTJ officials said, "We already tried the silent route in the previous campaign. It didn't hurt Lieberman. He still got eight mandates."
