Writing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, the ruling Likud party’s ultra-Orthodox wing warned that activists affiliated with the Knesset’s Haredi factions are infiltrating their movement in an effort to unduly influence the party from the inside.

The letter cited recent reporting about what it described as an organized effort by members of outside parties to join Likud, stating that they “do not seek to integrate [into it] as an ideological movement but rather to misdirect its elected officials, harm its leader, cunningly insert representatives on their behalf through internal elections, take control of its institutions, and continue to support and operate politically in other parties.”

Such efforts, the group continued, are not the legitimate actions of citizens “seeking to take part in the movement’s path, but rather an organized movement aimed at harming and weakening Likud and its leader,” which contravenes “the basic principles of democracy.”

While Likud’s Haredi wing continues to advocate for bringing in more ultra-Orthodox members, “the goal of these elements is completely the opposite, creating a distorted internal pressure mechanism that will subordinate its representatives to external political actors,” the group stated.

It called on Netanyahu to establish “filtering mechanisms” to “ensure that Likud activists are actual supporters of the movement” and are not acting on behalf of other parties.

Asked for comment, a spokesman for Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni said that his movement is not connected to any such campaign, noting that allegations have so far been leveled against the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael........

© The Times of Israel