Porush: Netanyahu Wasting Time, Religious Zionism Hurting Haredim

"The Only Country That Arrests Torah Students"

Porush opened with a stark declaration about the convoy protest scheduled for Wednesday afternoon: "We are in a very grim situation. This is the only country in the world that arrests Torah students. You study Torah? You sit in prison. So we need to protest against this. Everyone protests in their own way, we are protesting that they are arresting Torah students."

The chairman's comments came against the backdrop of escalating tensions following last week's violent police dispersal of haredi protesters on Route 4 near Bnei Brak, where officers deployed stun grenades and physical force against demonstrators blocking the highway. Porush expressed hope that the brutality would not repeat itself during Wednesday's convoy action.

"If, God forbid, the violence repeats itself, it means there is a problem of obsession with haredi hatred," Porush stated. "I don't remember scenes like this, blood, dragging people's clothes off them. And this wasn't one incident. It's terrible and frightening. I hope it doesn't repeat today."

The MK characterized the arrests of yeshiva students as not merely a legal matter but an existential threat: "They hate Torah students. They hate them. They don't understand the significance of Torah students. This is an indictment against the Land of Israel. It's a danger --- to cause a situation where people here cannot study Torah? This is an indictment."

Blistering Attack on Religious Zionism

Porush reserved some of his sharpest criticism for the Religious Zionism party, accusing its members of systematically undermining the haredi community while claiming to represent religious values. His comments revealed deep resentment over what he characterized as a party "barely scraping past the electoral threshold" wielding disproportionate influence over coalition policy.

"You could think everything is fine with them, you could think that there everyone serves 32 months and all the girls serve," Porush stated sarcastically. "They don't understand that this left wing, when they finish with us, they'll move on to them. The shame of Religious Zionism, a party that barely scrapes past the threshold, is trying to dictate opinions to Bibi and others."

The Shlomei Emunim chairman invoked a 60-year-old warning from Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik of Brisk, who opposed cooperation with the National Religious Party (Mizrachi movement, Religious Zionism's predecessor): "We all know who they are. We know this story for 60 years. The Brisker Rav wouldn't allow going with the National Religious Front because he said 'Mizrachi is the worst' - they'll tell you 'we're with you' and in the end they hurt you. You see it. What bothers them? Are we harming anyone from the settlements?"

Porush accused Religious Zionism of blocking haredi community needs at every turn: "It hurts them that we'll get apartments for our families. At every step they harm us — a party that barely scrapes past the threshold."

Netanyahu: "Every Time He Talks, You Think It's From the Heart - But It's Wasting Time"

Perhaps most striking was Porush's willingness to publicly criticize Prime Minister Netanyahu's handling of the draft legislation crisis, accusing him of deliberate stalling tactics despite repeated promises to resolve the issue.

Porush traced the problem back to the coalition's formation, when he urged Netanyahu to address the yeshiva draft issue immediately alongside other coalition partners' legislative priorities: "When they arranged the coalition agreements, I wrote that just as they're taking care of Ben Gvir's law, Deri's law, and Ben Gvir's other law, everyone took care of themselves, I said let's also do the yeshiva students' law now. But Bibi told me, 'I have four MKs causing problems, in the budget they'll be obligated.' Since then everything has been closed off in coalition leadership meetings and I'm not there. It's a miss. There's nothing to talk about."

The chairman's assessment of Netanyahu's subsequent handling was devastating: "Every time he talks, he knows how to talk well and you think he's speaking from the heart, but in the end it turns out to be wasting time. I said on Kikar HaShabbat, 'If he can't do it, let him go home.' What does 'can't' mean? I was called in and received a reprimand for that. But he wasted our time. There's no positive result."

The Right-Wing Alliance: "We Don't Like to Say We're in a Bloc"

When pressed on whether United Torah Judaism remains committed to the right-wing political bloc, Porush offered a nuanced response that suggested the party's traditional alignment may be weakening: "We all listen to the Council of Torah Sages and they will decide. But what is a bloc? We don't like to say we're in a bloc. We lean more toward the right because we haven't seen in Likud's platform introducing public transportation on Shabbat, permitting civil marriage --- that's why we're closer to them."

The carefully worded statement leaves open the possibility that haredi parties could reconsider their automatic alignment with right-wing coalitions if the draft crisis remains unresolved, a potential earthquake in Israeli coalition politics.

As thousands of haredi drivers prepared to launch Wednesday's convoy protest, Porush's explosive interview signaled that the community's patience with coalition partners, and with Netanyahu himself, may be reaching its breaking point.