The Zionist prime minister made a desperate, hours-long attempt to persuade Moti Leitner, leader of the Haredi party known as “HaTzibur” (The Public), to withdraw from the Knesset election race scheduled for October 27 but failed, according to a report by “Zman Yisrael.”
In a report published on Friday, political analyst Shalom Yerushalmi of Zman Yisrael said Benjamin Netanyahu had spent “an entire night” trying to remove Leitner from the electoral contest.
“Netanyahu did not know who Leitner was until their meeting, and he will not remember who he is a minute after the election ends,” Yerushalmi wrote. “But last Tuesday, which coincided with the prime minister’s birthday, between 2 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., he used all his influence and his well-known charm to persuade him to withdraw before sunrise.”
Leitner, who seeks to recruit Haredi men who do not study in the Israeli army and introduce core subjects into Haredi education, stood firm and announced that he would remain in the race until the end.
His response likely heightened Netanyahu’s anxiety, Yerushalmi added, as the prime minister has lost his composure recently while trying to salvage every vote in the right-wing camp, from Ofer Winter to the new Achi party, founded by the late Rabbi Yoram Abergel.
Yerushalmi said Leitner told Netanyahu bluntly that he would lose the election. Leitner claimed to have access to in-depth polls, backed by substantial financial investment, indicating that the right-wing bloc could win no more than 54–55 seats.
“Even if the Haredi parties collectively win 18 seats—which they will not reach—they will still be unable to win the election,” Leitner told Netanyahu.
Netanyahu, in turn, presented Leitner with contradictory figures from polls he had obtained. Leitner responded, “I know these polls. Your people tell you what you want to hear.”
Yerushalmi noted that Leitner, who describes himself as a Netanyahu supporter, is not the only Haredi figure conveying a pessimistic outlook to the prime minister. Aryeh Deri, leader of the Shas party, is also convinced that the right-wing bloc will fail to surpass 58 seats this time, even under the most favorable circumstances.
Deri speaks enthusiastically on Channel 14 about Netanyahu and his coalition partners winning 64 seats in the upcoming election. In private conversations, however, he acknowledges that the situation is difficult, including for Shas itself. He is therefore preparing for a fight to ensure the party’s survival in Tuesday’s election.
Yerushalmi explained that Deri’s popularity is at its lowest point, with campaign banners featuring his image alongside Netanyahu no longer visible on the streets.
According to the report, Deri intends to spend millions of shekels on election day from a substantial budget made available to him that day under the Political Parties Financing Law. He will deploy 5,000 field activists, along with 3,000 rabbis affiliated with Shas groups across the country, whom he knows personally.
In private conversations, Deri estimates that Ashkenazi Haredim in the United Torah Judaism party may turn their backs on Netanyahu after the election and reach a separate agreement with Gadi Eisenkot on legislation exempting Haredi men from military service if Eisenkot wins the political battle.
Yerushalmi argued that some are seeking to exploit the situation. The right-wing bloc’s declining poll numbers and the pressure on Netanyahu are encouraging more small Haredi parties to extract as many concessions as possible, sometimes to the point of absurdity.
“Returning to Leitner,” Yerushalmi wrote, “during his meeting with Netanyahu, the prime minister offered him senior government positions and budgets for joint efforts to recruit Haredim and change the Haredi education system.”
Leitner demanded financial guarantees to back up those promises, arguing that without them, they would remain mere words on paper. Netanyahu refused to provide such guarantees.
“Reality in Israel must change,” Leitner told Netanyahu. “The Haredi community must integrate. Haredim account for 34% of first-grade pupils in the Israeli occupation entity. By 2030, that figure will reach 40%, and most pupils will leave the Haredi education system without being prepared for working life and earning a living.”
To Leitner’s surprise, Netanyahu was well aware of all these troubling figures.
Yerushalmi concluded that Netanyahu had failed and that Leitner and his party would remain in the race until the end. Leitner estimates that he will win approximately 100,000 votes in the election, providing a foundation for his party to contest the next election, which he believes will take place soon.
That forecast applies both if the current election produces no decisive outcome and if Eisenkot forms a minority government that quickly collapses, Yerushalmi wrote.
He concluded that Netanyahu “is convinced that such a scenario, if it materializes, will be the fault of Winter, Leitner, and Avi Maoz, along with all his friends on the right whom he previously persuaded to withdraw from the electoral race with a phone call from his car.”
Source: Agencies (translated and edited by Al-Manar)