Aguda

The Aguda Israel is waging its election campaign with a sense of confidence and self-satisfaction not shared by most of the other lists. With four seats in the present Knesset, the ultra-Orthodox party is certain of maintaining its strength and possibly gaining a fifth seat which would represent a 25 percent increase in its support.

The party’s leaders are asking for support on the basis of solid achievements during the past four years when it served as an ex-officio partner in the Likudled coalition. In the legislative field there were two hard-won, much publicized victories; an amendment barring State-permitted abortions in cases of social (as distinct from medical) hardship; and regulations severely restricting the right to perform autopsies when a member of the decedent’s family opposes it. Laws have also been passed tightening restrictions on the sale of pork and cracking down on discrimination against Sabbath observers.

In the less publicized field of State support for Aguda-affiliated yeshivas and other religious institutions, the party can also point to impressive gains. Shlomo Lorincz, head of the Aguda Knesset faction, used his powerful position as chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee to extract substantial funding from State budgets for the ultra-Orthodox community’s myriad educational and social institutions. Perhaps Lorincz did too well, for his successes bred jealousy among other factions of the party and the various Hasidic groups they represent.