The election campaign has just kicked off, but behind the scenes, the battle over who will be able to form a coalition the day after has already begun. This time around, the support of Haredi parties could prove to be the decisive factor when it comes to who winds up serving as Israel's next prime minister.
While officially Shas and United Torah Judaism party officials say they intend to stand with Netanyahu, cracks have already begun to appear in the Haredi stance as this time around, the prime minister is not being challenged by secularists like Yesh Atid's Yair Lapid but rather New Hope's conservative Gideon Sa'ar and modern Orthodox Zeev Elkin.
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On Sunday, Netanyahu invited UTJ's Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Litzman and Shas' Aryeh Deri to meet in an effort to re-establish the right-wing bloc, in the hope that despite his public statements otherwise, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett will join the group later down the line.
Sa'ar hasn't given up on the Haredim either, having spoken with Gafni over the weekend to bolster ties.
Despite Israel being in an election campaign, Gafni has refused interview requests of late to avoid having to answer any questions on the matter. His fellow party members, however, have already let it be known that cracks are beginning to form in the Netanyahu-Haredi bloc.
In an interview with Haredi radio station Kol Barama, Sunday, UTJ MK Yitzhak Pindros said, "If Gideon Sa'ar comes to us with 45 Knesset seats and United Torah Judaism and Shas complete the government, as opposed to Netanyahu who comes with 10 Knesset seats, it should be obvious what will happen. If Netanyahu has no chance of putting together a coalition, and Gideon Sa'ar does, of course, there are different considerations."
Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev of UTJ was also asked to weigh on the issue in an interview with Haredi radio station Kol Chai, Sunday.
"Sa'ar isn't out of the question," he said, "but we will make every effort to avoid having to deal with the question of whether to support him. We will support Netanyahu as long as he has the option of forming a government. He is the first option," he said, noting the party's gratitude. Nevertheless, he emphasized that "Sa'ar is not in the group we rule out."
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