United Torah Judaism (UTJ)
The United Torah Judaism party is an electoral alliance of the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael and the Litvaks [“Lithuanian”] non-Hasidic Degel Hatorah. Should United Torah Judaism dissolve, both components would risk falling below the electoral threshold. Each United Torah Judaism lawmaker represents different rabbis, Hasidic courts and yeshivas, and cannot afford to be outdone by their colleagues.
United Torah Judaism (Yahadut HaTorah) is a joint list made up of the ultra-Orthodox parties Agudat Israel and Degel HaTorah. These two parties have run together since the elections for the 13th Knesset in 1992. United Torah Judaism (UTJ) promotes the interests of the Haredi community in Israel in the areas of education and welfare and regarding specific issues such as army service. It also works to preserve the religious character of the State of Israel. In September, 1999, during the 15th Knesset, United Torah Judaism even left the coalition in protest against the shipment of a turbine to the Ashkelon power station on the Jewish Sabbath.
Regarding foreign policy and security, United Torah Judaism is a centrist party, which determines its positions based on religious concerns more than security concerns or diplomatic considerations. For example, United Torah Judaism was a member of the coalition government that carried out the disengagement from the Gaza Strip. The party does tend to support the right-wing camp, however, because that camp tends to have a more conservative outlook on religious issues.
Since the early 1950s, as a matter of principle and expression of ideological conviction, Agudat Israel, Degel HaTorah, or the combined UTJ list refused to take on the position of minister; rather, members of these parties had served only as deputy ministers. This enabled them to maintain that they are not participating in a Zionist government and to avoid sharing responsibility for policies with which they do not agree.
The joint list has participated in five governments: In the first Netanyahu government in the 14th Knesset, United Torah Judaism held the portfolio of Deputy Minister of Housing. In the 15th Knesset, UTJ was briefly a member of Ehud Barak's coalition, but refused to hold a position in the government at the instruction of the Council of Torah Sages. In the government formed by the Likud in the 16th Knesset, members of United Torah Judaism served as Deputy Minister of Welfare and Deputy Minister of Transportation. In the second Netanyahu government in the 18th Knesset, UTJ representative Yaakov Litzman served as Deputy Minister of Health.
Despite being Deputy Minister he effectively enjoyed the powers of a full minister Litzman was reappointed to that position in Neatanyahu's fourth government. Following a ruling by the High Court of Justice, annuling the arrangement of Deputy Minister holding powers of a full Minister, Litzman was appointed as the Minister of Health in September 2015. This was the first time a representative of Agudat Israel took the position of a minister since the early 1950s. However, in November 2017 Litzman resigned and was reappointed as a Deputy Minister.
The House Committee chaired by MK Eitan Ginzburg (Blue and White) decided on 20 December 2020 to divide the United Torah Judaism parliamentary group into two separate factions: Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah. The committee also decided to recommend that the Knesset Plenum elect MK Israel Eichler (United Torah Judaism) as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset in place of MK Eliyahu Baruchi (United Torah Judaism). Committee Chairman MK Ginzburg removed from the agenda the recommendation of a chairperson for the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, as well as the discussion on the dates of the elections recess and the Knesset's activity during the recess.
A no-confidence motion in the government was submitted to the plenum 21 December 2021: “A government that capitulates to Reform organizations and harms the basic values of the Haredi public is not worthy of trust.” MK Yisrael Eichler (United Torah Judaism) who presented the motion: “They want to desecrate the Western Wall, to destroy its essence as a place of faith and turn it into a national site. Thus I say to the people who dwell in Zion, that the war of the Reform against Judaism is an existential war. Their war will lead to bloodshed at the Western Wall.”
Minister of Communications Yoaz Hendel (New Hope) responded: “My Haredi brethren, you need to assimilate into society, to work and study, to become entitled to produce equal rights and obligations. This is a sacred privilege. We are in the State of Israel, in Jerusalem, the capital of a sovereign state. This government will continue to work in a serious and professional manner to address the needs of all parts of Israeli society.”
Another bill Regulation of swimming Places (Amendment – Determining Areas for Separate Bathing) was also raised before the plenum. The initiator of the bill MK Yitzhak Pindrus (United Torah Judaism): “When an Arab woman in Haifa wants to swim, is she not entitled to do so? We have been abandoned, we are not relevant, because when you speak of human rights, we do not seem to be taken into account. We are apparently not human beings. But by all means take care of that Muslim woman in Haifa. Take care of that same Muslim woman in the North who goes down to the Sea of Galilee.”
Minister of Intelligence Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) responded to the bill: “I am in favor of separate beaches; I believe that people who wish to swim separately should be able to do so. I support human rights, also allocating places to suit people’s needs. You know what I mean, right? Everywhere. Not only at the beach. I support a state in which every person is able to get married.”
Despite progress in coalition negotiations between the Likud and other parties, no progress has been made in the negotiations between Likud and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), the haredi Hamevaser newspaper reported 02 December 2022. According to Hamevaser, representatives of UTJ's Agudat Yisrael faction have expressed surprise at the Likud's continued "behavior, which is not understood and which is indecipherable."
"United Torah Judaism demands, first and foremost, to receive answers from the Likud regarding the unequivocal equivalency of the haredi educational institutions' budget for all ages - a matter which is extremely important and which we clarified even before the elections," Agudat Yisrael said.
United Torah Judaism's coalition demands while negotiating with prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly included ending electricity production on Shabbat. "Any final agreement will preserve the status quo in matters of religion and state," the Likud said after the demands were leaked to the media, stressing that not all the demands will be part of the final coalition agreement. UTJ also wants a representative from the Chief Rabbinate in any panel weighing permits for work on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest; more gender-segregated beaches; additional public transportation discounts in predominantly ultra-Orthodox cities; affirmative action for the ultra-Orthodox when applying for jobs in government companies and more religious studies in secular schools.
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