Knesset Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafne sent a letter to the Director-General of the Ministry of Religious Services, in which he states continued funding of the nation’s religious councils under current circumstances in a Chilul Hashem, as well as a blow to the heads of the authorities and to religious services.

On the face of it, this is a letter of concern to the religious councils, but Shas interprets Gafne’s letter as “vengeance” in the victory of Deputy Minister Itzik Cohen in the struggle for insurance for yeshiva students whom Gafni opposed.

Shas claims that Gafni is now trying to stop all the budgets of the religious councils, which are in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which is held by Shas.

In a letter sent by Gafni to Director-General Oded Flus, Gafne writes that he will not allow the continuation of the situation in which the state is burdening the economic expenses of the mayors only when it comes to religious matters, which he refers to an a “Chilul Hashem like none other”.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)