Israel's Ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism were up in arms Monday after Blue and White co-founder, Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid tweeted what he claimed was a satirical campaign video portraying senior haredi politicians as demanding exorbitant budgets in exchange for pledging loyalty to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Titled "Natural Partners, Final," the clip was styled as a fictional group chat in the popular messaging service WhatsApp. The "group" included United Right leader Ayelet Shaked and the faction's No. 3 Betzalel Smotrich, former Coalition Whip David Bitan, UTJ chairman Yakov Litzman, and Shas leader Aryeh Deri.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
In the chat, group members are asked by "Bitan" to pledge their support to the premiership candidacy of "Benjamin Netanyahu, the first of his name, messenger of God, leader of the Right, and father of dragons."
"I hereby swear to support upholding his immunity forever, regardless of any indictment," Bitan's message dictates. "No messing around this time. ... Swear it in blood,"
פאניקה בבלפור pic.twitter.com/o5mfk1rPXR
— יאיר לפיד Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) August 4, 2019
In the video, Deri responds, "You want me to sign? Give another trillion shekels for the yeshivas" while Litzman replies, "I want all the money in Israel."
Smotrich demands the annexation of the settlements, while Shaked demands that Netanyahu undermines the judiciary.
While Lapid defended the video on Army Radio as "harmless political humor," haredi politicians found nothing amusing about it.
"This is anti-Semitism, there's no other word for it," Deri tweeted.
Litzman likewise called the ad anti-Semitic, saying Lapid crossed a "red line" and that it was reminiscent of "dark periods in which Jews were portrayed as greedy persecutors."
Lapid retorted that he was unwilling to take criticism from someone who "protects pedophiles," a reference to allegations that Litzman had protected sex offenders in at least 10 cases.
"I'm also not impressed that they scream 'hate, hate' every time someone criticizes them. There is real anti-Semitism in the world: Jews are shot in synagogues. This is not anti-Semitism. We will continue to fight for Israel as a Jewish, democratic, free and liberal state." Lapid said, reiterating the video was humorous and part of legitimate political campaigning.
Litzman also criticized Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, asserting that unless he repudiates the video he is "a full and direct partner in a hate crime committed against an entire sector in Israel."
While Gantz has not commented on the video, the faction's No. 3, Telem leader Moshe Yaalon, said he disliked the video, as such moves were "not in favor of hate discourse."
"This is not my style or [party head] Benny Gantz's style," Yaalon said in a statement to local media. "We are not for a hateful discussion, not between Jews and Arabs, Right and Left, Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, religious, secular and haredim."
"This really is not our style," he added. "We believe that we need to come together for the sake of Israel's resilience. We will find a way to clarify this."
