It is important to remember that while the Arabs will not enter a rightist coalition, the hareidim are certainly willing to enter a leftist coalition and have done so in the past.…
The hareidi parties do not participate in the Zionist endeavor and the Religious Zionists tend to scorn them. But they have many more mandates than the NRP. The Religious Zionists, more numerous and higher quality, looked on for an entire generation as Israeli society turned its back on them, stopped taking their needs and opinions into account, ignored their great contribution to the state and cozied up to the sectoral politics of its hareidi competitors.
The NRP’s message is not sectoral; it appeals to the general public. But its political tool is sectoral. The Religious Zionist nationalist/rightist ideology prevents it from skipping between Right and Left, as the hareidi parties do. This built-in political glitch leaves them empty-handed on both ends. They don’t really enjoy the privilege of turning to the general public, for this privilege is reserved for those parties that truly are not sectoral. On the other hand, they don’t enjoy the bargaining advantage of sectoral politics. After all, the Jewish Home party will never endorse Sheli Yechimovitz as its candidate for prime minister.
Needless to add, the Charedi Knesset members hardly, if ever, act on their own accord. Who pulls their strings? מאן מלכי רבנן…
Thank God, more and more Charedim refuse to vote for Gimmel, Shas, etc., and all the evils they enable!
For a nice, long critique of Charedi politics, see my essay here.