The internal turmoil within United Torah Judaism intensified Tuesday evening, as a stormy Agudas Yisroel meeting at the Knesset broke down amid a fierce dispute over plans by Shlomei Emunim and Belz to run under a separate registered party within the broader UTJ framework.

The immediate dispute centered on the fifth slot on the UTJ electoral slate, with representatives of Shlomei Emunim and Belz ultimately walking out of the meeting as the confrontation escalated.

At the heart of the controversy was a decision by Shlomei Emunim chairman Meir Porush and Belz representative Elyakim Stark to place their candidates on the UTJ slate through a separate political party rather than through Agudas Yisroel.

The move was not intended as a departure from United Torah Judaism. Instead, Shlomei Emunim and Belz maintained that the arrangement would give them greater political independence while remaining part of the joint chareidi slate.

Under the proposed arrangement, UTJ would effectively consist of three separate political entities: Degel HaTorah, Agudas Yisroel, and the new framework representing Shlomei Emunim and Belz.

During the heated meeting, UTJ chairman Yitzchok Goldknopf said, “We will have to ask the Gerer Rebbe whether we can run on a list consisting of three parties.”

The confrontation grew sharper when Ger representative Chanoch Zeibert told Stark, “Under no circumstances will we sign the agreement unless you announce that you are splitting completely from Agudas Yisroel.”

Stark rejected the characterization of the move as an ideological break with Agudas Yisroel.

“There is no ideological split here,” Stark responded. “This is only so that there will be unity and peace among the factions throughout the entire term.”

The development came after an extended battle over the fifth position on the UTJ slate. Earlier, Ger’s Central Faction had announced that it was prepared to accept Shlomei Emunim’s demand that the fifth slot be given to Sanz.

That concession, however, apparently came too late. By then, the plan for Shlomei Emunim and Belz to operate through their own registered political framework had already advanced significantly.

The remaining question Tuesday evening was whether Agudas Yisroel would accept the new structure and sign the necessary agreements, or whether the dispute would trigger an even deeper internal confrontation in the final hours before the deadline for submitting electoral slates.

{Matzav.com}