People are saying that the latest coalition crisis was a trick that got out of hand, a case of people backing themselves into a corner.
That could be accurate but it doesn't contradict the fact that an end to a crisis like this is an excellent time to draw political conclusions and forge a way onward. The haredi MKs might have the most work to do when it comes to that.
The haredi MKs were the last ones who needed to worry about an early election, having gotten what they wanted with a few hot-button issues: supermarkets operating on Shabbat, railway infrastructure work on Shabbat, and the budget.
If an early election had been called without a new bill regulating the conscription of yeshiva students, it would have been easy for them to bring out their voters. Still, they were worried at the idea of an early election and made wide-reaching concessions on the conscription bill, which is a subject dear to their hearts. How did that happen? They need to think about that.
The haredi parties should devote the next year and a half to thinking about and taking steps to neutralize the political dangers that are going to pop up in the next few years.
The first and foremost of those dangers is the Shas party, which was shaken to find that polls showed it barely scraping past the minimum electoral threshold. According to one Israel Hayom poll, the party wouldn't even make it into the Knesset.
Shas doesn't believe in polls, but is that enough? Maybe it's time for the party to shake things up, to think differently, to send out new messages and appeal to new audiences so the party doesn't find itself shut out in the next general election.
The United Torah Judaism people, for their part, can spend some time considering partnerships beyond the right wing. Is it right for them to remain dependent on the kindness of the Right and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? How long will that last? Can anything be done with less "natural" partnerships?
The one bright spot for the haredim in this crisis is the victory of reason – that the haredi MKs refused to beat their heads against a brick wall and held firm in the face of criticism from their own camp. The broad concessions on the conscription bill are hard for them to swallow, but if in the past claims were made that the haredi MKs had caved to the haredi media (on issues such as the compromise on mixed-gender prayer at the Western Wall), this time, they held their ground.
It's possible they didn't have a choice, and it's also possible that they deserve credit for letting reason and common sense prevail.
