Minister of Housing (Bayit Yehudi) Uri Ariel on Tuesday morning 19 Sivan 5773 told Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) that the dati leumi party will remain loyal to its platform and coalition agreements.

Referring to the coalition crisis surrounding the sharing the burden issue, the government effort to draft chareidim into the IDF, Ariel explained the Peri Committee agreed on the draft and suddenly, Yesh Atid has decided to create a coalition crisis. Ariel explained Bayit Yehudi will stand firm and adhere to coalition agreements as well as remaining true to voters. He called Yesh Atid’s response to ongoing events “incomprehensible behavior”, admitting he is not exactly certain as to why Finance Minister Yair Lapid is speaking in terms of a coalition crisis.

Ariel believes that Yesh Atid is a responsible party and it will deliver exactly what it promised to constituents regarding the ‘sharing the burden’ issue. “The party is led by responsible individuals and I am confident they will act accordingly and they will remain committed to their coalition agreements.”

On Monday, 18 Sivan, Peri Committee Ministers Limor Livnat and Moshe Ya’alon of Likud explained they cannot support the draft agreement section calling for punitive actions against individuals, talmidim who fail to report for the draft in line with the new regulations. This led to a harsh response from Lapid, who threatened to break the coalition, explaining for him and Yesh Atid, there can be negotiating on this issue, which he added is included in the coalition agreements.

Ariel however is not panicked over the reported coalition crisis and he remains confident that the issues will be ironed out to everyone’s satisfaction.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)