Former MK who blocked 'Stinky Deal' dies at 92

Avraham Verdiger served in the Knesset from 1967-1996; was deputy minister for Jerusalem Affairs from 1990-1992.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Former MK Avraham Verdiger 370 (photo credit: Courtesy of Knesset)
Former MK Avraham Verdiger 370
(photo credit: Courtesy of Knesset)
Former UTJ and Agudath Yisrael Workers’ Party MK Avraham Verdiger was laid to rest in Jerusalem Wednesday night, after his death at age 92.
Verdiger famously blocked the 1990 “Stinky Deal” to topple then-premier Yitzhak Shamir and make Shimon Peres prime minister with a left-wing and haredi coalition, due to opposition by the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson) who was against territorial concessions, as he believed they were a security risk and would not bring peace.
The deal, which was given the moniker “stinky” by Yitzhak Rabin, ultimately failed because Verdiger and MK Eliezer Mizrahi, also of Agudath Yisrael, would not back Peres.
Verdiger was born in Lodz, Poland, and moved to Israel in 1947, where he served in the IDF. He entered the Knesset in 1967 as a representative of the Agudath Yisrael Workers’ Party, and continued his political career until 1996, eventually leading his party, founding the Morasha party with religious-Zionist then-MK Rabbi Haim Druckman, and joining Agudath Yisrael and United Torah Judaism.
UTJ released a statement saying that he was “a man of great action who was a great example of a public figure who is loyal to those who sent him. The UTJ faction sends condolences to his wife and family.”