Smotrich attacks haredim: "Ungrateful to Hashem"

Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich launched a sharp attack this week on the haredi public and on Rav Yitzchak Landau shlita, rosh yeshiva of Slabodka in Bnei Brak.

Speaking at a Religious Zionism party conference, Smotrich declared: "I think haredim are ungrateful to Hashem and we have a sharp argument with them about the attitude toward the state and the processes of redemption."

The Religious Zionism chairman continued and clarified his position forcefully: "I don't understand how one can be haredi today. The Zionist enterprise is succeeding - is there greater proof of redemption?"

Addressing Rav Landau personally, Smotrich said at a Channel 7 conference: "I will pray that he does teshuvah."

Smotrich's remarks come after a term in which he yielded almost unconditionally to haredi demands on religion-and-state matters. MK Moshe Saada from Likud said that because of Smotrich's deal with Shas, no Zionist chief rabbi was elected.

Smotrich and the Religious Zionism party been harshly criticised by the religious-Zionist public over the passage of the Torah Study Basic Law, the draft law, and especially over the continued haredi avoidance of army service, even after three years of war. The two MKs who voted against the draft law, Ofir Sofer and Moshe Solomon, were expelled from the party and are not running in the next election.

So why has Smotrich suddenly adopted an anti-haredi line? Perhaps he is trying to improve his standing in the polls. The question is whether in the next government, the haredi parties will forgive him for these statements. Notably, in the Netanyahu-Gantz government, Smotrich found himself outside the coalition, while the haredim were inside.