The Kadima party has been inciting hate for selfish political reasons, MK Yisrael Eichler (United Torah Judaism) accused Tuesday, addressing the Knesset.

“Gentlemen, the people of Israel is heading for civil war. Tribes are incited against each other – so that Kadima can justify having entered the government,” he declared.

Kadima received just one ministerial post upon joining the coalition in a last-minute political about-face. Eichler said the party hopes to appease voters by increasing its influence at the expense of hareidi-religious parties Shas and United Torah Judaism. It plans to do so by inciting the public to hate hareidi-religious young men who learn Torah full-time rather than enlisting in the IDF, he said.

“What are they waiting for? ‘Let’s make a draconian law that will force Shas and United Torah Judaism leave the coalition, and then we’ll have the Ministry of the Interior, the Housing Ministry, the Finance Committee… and the vice ministerial positions for Finance and Education,’” he argued.

He defended the fact that most hareidi men do not enlist. Torah learning “has protected us for the 64 years of the state’s existence, [the state] remained standing solely in the merit of Torah study,” he said.

He compared criticism of those who learn Torah full-time to the sin of the spies described in the Bible. “The spies did not understand that in Israel it’s not might vs. might, but rather, spirit vs. might,” he said. “Whoever does not understand the power of Torah, the strength of the spirit rather than physical strength, is likely to give us cause to mourn for generations to come.”