Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews from Jerusalem's Lithuanian sect gathered in a stadium in the city on Sunday, where rabbis declared they would not continue to support United Torah Judaism in the election due to concerns over the haredi draft law. They instead implied support for Eli Yishai's Yahad party. The sect, led by Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, is estimated to include some 20,000 to 30,000 voters. While its leaders did not officially direct the group to vote for Yahad, they issued what is called a "silent directive," making clear their opinion without an overt call to action. One man at the gathering said, "The rabbi cannot officially tell us to vote for a party that includes members who visit the Temple Mount, but there is a sort of silent directive to vote for Yishai. We are looking at the content rather than the package -- and the haredi parties have long since lost that content. The only person who promised to fight the haredi draft law was Yishai, and he will get votes." The rabbis at the event spoke out strongly against what they call "the draft edict," telling the crowd they must not even set foot in a recruitment office. "At a time like this, when the government is trying to harm those who study Torah, we must not compromise and we must not give up a single yeshiva student, because reaching into the yeshivas is like reaching into the very heart of Israel," Auerbach said. "We will fight that with everything we have." Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Neal Hendel ruled that haredi newspaper Yated Ne'eman did not have to run a campaign ad by the ultra-Orthodox women's party B'zchutan. The ruling followed the paper's appeal of an earlier verdict directing the paper to publish the ad. Yated Ne'eman, established by the founder of the Degel Hatorah political party (one of the two parties that make up United Torah Judaism) argued that the original ruling constituted unlawful coercion and impinged on cultural and religious freedoms.
Ultra-Orthodox Lithuanian sect to back Yahad
Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach and leaders of the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalemite Lithuanian sect retract traditional support for United Torah Judaism, citing the party's lack of commitment to fight the haredi draft law • Yahad has promised to fight the law.
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