One of the pictures that featured prominently on religious websites and in political tweets at the end of Simchat Torah was of Blue and White leader Benny Gantz dancing with a Torah scroll at Kfar Chabad, along with Education Minister Rafi Peretz.
The pictures, along with the fact that the very same evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu handed back his mandate to form a government, started the rumor mill that Gantz and Peretz might be working together. When we add to that the care Gantz's associates are taking to publicize every event that could even slightly appeal to the religious public, such as him building a sukkah or praying at the Western Wall, and you'll wind up with a political conspiracy theory that envisions the religious parties leaving Netanyahu's bloc of supporters and throwing their lot in with Gantz.
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Well, that's not happening.
Gantz's respect for Jewish tradition goes back long before he was running for prime minister, back to the days when his paternal grandmother wore a head covering like the women of Jerusalem of yore.
Peretz looks innocent. He is accused of being a political rookie, but don't get confused between his niceness and professionalism and politics. Peretz knows Gantz and the army very well. They served together – one as IDF chief of staff and the other as chief rabbi of the IDF. They share a bond of brothers in arms and have a lot of respect for each other. Peretz, for example, was not willing to fall in line with the Likud's accusation in the last campaign that Gantz was "dangerous."
But when it comes to politics, Peretz's ties to National Union leader Bezalel Smotrich are much stronger. Even if Blue and White tries to split them up and bring one of their parties into a future coalition, it will encounter a brick wall.
What about haredi leaders Aryeh Deri of Shas and Yakov Litzman and Moshe Gafni from United Torah Judaism? Deri is utterly loyal to Netanyahu.
"Vote for Deri and you'll get Netanyahu," Deri promised in the campaign, and his party increased its representation to nine seats. Litzman and Gafni? They'd prefer to sit with Ayman Odeh and Ahmad Tibi of the Joint Arab List than with Gantz's No. 2 in Blue and White, Yair Lapid.
Naftali Bennett is also moving closer to Netanyahu and the Likud, and Ayelet Shaked wants to be a right-wing prime minister. If they veer to the Left at all, they could be putting their personal and political futures at risk.
So the right-wing bloc seems to be strong, and will likely remain that way, although we've learned that in politics, anything – absolutely anything – can happen.
