This is expected to have major implications on religion-and-state issues in Israel, as each of these parties has already laid out plans both to reverse reforms put in place by the outgoing government and to institute new ones to reinforce Orthodox control over religious life in Israel.
But despite these religious parties representing the majority of the government, they will be limited somewhat by the liberal — in the classic sense of the term — and secular parts of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, which will still be the largest party in the coalition.
Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, director of the Shared Society Center at the Israel Democracy Institute, noted that this is a novel position for the Likud to be in, as the party is generally more traditional on religious issues and has long served in coalitions with Haredi parties and supported their policies.
“There’s never before been a Likud-Haredi government that didn’t have a moderating force — the Yisrael Beytenu party, Kulanu, Blue and White, Labor — there’s always been someone who offset things. Now there isn’t one. But the Likud has a mix of people, there are secular, and there are traditional. I don’t think they’ll so quickly change the status quo,” she said. READ MORE
