Eliahu blew the NRP's chance to be in the government. The issue is a touchy one in the NRP faction, where members are divided on how much authority rabbis should have in political matters. Party leader Levy, who is close to Eliahu, favors such involvement, while Yahalom and Zevulun Orlev have in the past expressed their opposition to it. But the faction members have now closed ranks in a public-relations campaign against Sharon. Orlev can discuss the failed negotiations in considerable detail.
Every individual member decides how much to consult with rabbis and on what matters.
Yehuda Ben-Meir, a former NRP faction head, doesn't buy that. Contrary to its ideology and practice, the NRP has now become just like Shas - a party run by rabbis, anathema to religious Zionism. For years, it was accepted for rabbis to decide matters of Halacha, while the lay leadership determined political matters. It has ceased to represent the principles of religious Zionism. The differences between the NRP and Shas are becoming so blurred that it hardly matters.