In fact, chareidi members of Knesset were surprised by the announcement last week. They had speculated that elections would take place sometime during the summer, but not as early as April 9, which is now the date that Israel will elect its next government.

According to Rabbi Uri Maklev of United Torah Judaism, despite what has been widely reported, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu did not decide to go to elections due to disagreement over the draft law. Rather, Maklev told Mishpacha, Netanyahu dissolved the government because he feared the impending indictment from Attorney General Dr. Avichai Mandelblit, who is looking into various charges of wrongdoing by the prime minister.

“Netanyahu also discovered that the Knesset is not functioning,” Maklev added. “Laws that the coalition and the government tried to enact were voted down. At the same time, problems arose that could not be resolved immediately. Take, for example, the demonstrations against the high cost of living. It is impossible to know where those might lead.”

The moment Netanyahu made the decision, chareidi MKs began considering how the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) list might look in the next Knesset. The first question is whether members of Degel HaTorah and Agudas Yisrael will run together or separately. According to Maklev, “Our goal is to make the utmost effort to go the united way. We won’t think about running separately until we’ve maximized all the possibilities of bringing about chareidi unity. Even if it’s not politically correct to say so at this time, we want unity.”

Maklev acknowledged that it won’t be easy to run together, especially after what happened in the recent municipal elections, when the factions had major disagreements in some precincts. The veteran lawmaker believes party discipline will be key.

“We have to make sure all the communities are working for the united list,” he said. “I have an organized plan on this subject that I plan to present to the UTJ members in the near future. The plan involves running together, with a clear division of campaign responsibilities. The communities and sectors will be divided by areas and will take upon themselves various tasks with separate budgets, separate headquarters, and clear division of areas.”

Maklev’s intention to run together should be regarded as revolutionary. Among other things, the plan creates a clear test for the balance of power between Agudas Yisrael and Degel HaTorah. “The best mechanism at this time is to run on one list, to make sure to maximize the resources and the activities [of the parties], and to make sure that all the players are doing whatever they can for the success of the united list,” he said.

MK Yisrael Eichler, a veteran member of Agudas Yisrael, has seen virtually everything over his long tenure in politics. Still, the most recent elections taught him that the historic partnership between Agudas Yisrael and Degel HaTorah will have to be strengthened ahead of the next race.

Like Maklev, Eichler also believes Prime Minister Netanyahu called early elections due to a pending indictment. But the draft law also factored into Netanyahu’s thinking, he said.

“Netanyahu hoped he’d be able to reach an agreement on this subject,” Eichler said. “He wasn’t ready to accept the two minor changes we asked for.”

The first was that the draft law should not have an expiration date, something the rabbinic leadership demanded, Eichler said. Likewise, Agudas Yisrael asked that the target numbers for chareidi recruitment should rest with the Cabinet and not be written into the law itself. “Netanyahu did not want to accept these adjustments,” Eichler said, “but the issues were being discussed. Meanwhile, the legal hangmen arrived and put the political noose around Netanyahu’s neck. He realized that he had no choice and took the country to elections.”

Eichler concurs with Maklev that a united list is the only way forward in the next election.

“We are obligated to run together,” he said. “If we work to really succeed, we can preserve our strength and even increase it. It’s important to remember that even with a joint run, there’s a lot of hard work to do. We saw what happened in Bnei Brak and Beit Shemesh in the last election, where people decided to stay home.”

United Torah Judaism held six seats in the last government. Along with Shas, which held seven seats, the chareidi faction controlled 13 votes. Eichler said it’s important for the party to increase its numbers. “If we’re strong enough, we can also advance a draft law and address certain injustices that impact every citizen, certainly chareidi citizens. These include transportation issues and other social needs. If we elect fewer representatives than last time, it will be a calamity for generations.”

Some observers have suggested that the two parties could win more seats if they ran separately. But Eichler said that thinking is dated.

“[Running separately] could be something to think about if we were in a reality where the election threshold was 2%, like it was a decade ago, or 1%, as it was in the first half a century of the state. In such a reality, there’s truth to the claim. But the threshold now is very high [130,000 votes]. The Ashkenazic chareidi community can canvass 210,000 votes in elections. Who will take responsibility of putting both parties at risk?”

Shas is also preparing feverishly for the coming elections. MK Yinon Azoulay, son of former religious affairs minister David Azoulay a”h, told Mishpacha that the party is aiming high. “Every one of the MKs will work to increase our strength,” he said. “We are coming into this election cycle with a lot of motivation. As far as we are concerned, this is a continuation of the local elections, where we made remarkable gains.”

Azoulay said the date of April 9, ten days before Pesach, was not set randomly. “As soon as the chareidi party leaders realized elections would be held in April, they demanded the date be set during bein hazmanim, to minimize bittul Torah as much as possible. This way, we will conclude the winter zeman with election preparations, and the summer zeman will begin once elections are behind us.”

Azoulay said he expects Shas to win at least eight seats, up from the current seven, but the hope is to reach double digits. “A strong Shas is a party that cares for the poor in particular and for the general needs of every citizen in Israel. I’m sure that Shas will be much stronger in the next Knesset.”

A survey conducted after the government announced it would dissolve shows Shas losing two seats in the next round, but Azoulay said that polls never accurately gauged the Shas base.

“We laugh at polls, and at the same time, we must not be lulled into complacency,” he said. “We will work hard, and I’m sure we will achieve results that will surprise everyone.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 742)