There are no favors in politics. In politics everything is tit for tat. you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. Nobody is supporting a fellow politicians proposal just to be nice or because he likes the person - they are doing it because of agreements and commitments already in place giving each side certain benefits or the hope for currying favor for a future issue.
So it makes me wonder why Netanyahu and the Likud have been so forgiving of the Haredi politicians not living up to their side of the political deals.
First Aryeh Deri backed out of deciding on the issue of the natural gas, despite Netanyahu urging him to sign the order, thus throwing the entire arrangement into further chaos.
Netanyahu did not take any retribution on Deri for that, at least not yet.
And yesterday the Haredi politicians, at least it is so assumed, were responsible for secretly not voting in favor of the Likud's candidate for the committee for dayanim, despite the Likud giving them almost everything they have wanted and having supported their candidate for the same committee (Eichler).
Will the Likud somehow take revenge and shoot down something the Haredi parties are hoping for? The next big vote the Haredi parties are looking for is the Norwegian Law. Senior Likud politicians are saying they are still going to support it, despite what happened yesterday.
It makes me wonder what is brewing. The Likud is not doing any favors to Shas or UTJ. They give Shas and UTJ different things with the expectation of tit for tat.
Maybe Netanyahu is just so desperate to avoid the threat of new elections that he just runs away from a real stand-down with them. Or else something is coming. At some point Netanyahu is going to get his revenge - whether it is on the budget cuts Kahlon is asking for or some other important vote or something down the line, but it is coming. And if not, I will be surprised.
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