Housing Minister Uri Ariel is seeking to meet with chareidi MKs. He turned to MKs from Yahadut Hatorah and Shas requesting to meet with them on erev Rosh Hashanah. In his message to the MKs, Ariel states that he wishes to discuss housing issues with them.

The letter explains the minister wishes to hear what issues pertaining to housing are on the chareidi agenda and what can be done to assist in alleviating the critical housing shortage.

In his last effort to meet with chareidim a number of months ago, the former boycotted the forum as they were angry at the Bayit Yehuda party for supporting budget cuts that impacted the chareidi community hard.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu earlier in the week, chareidi representatives told Mr. Netanyahu that entering into the current coalition that includes Yesh Atid is a non-starter.

In another related matter, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that he is working with Yesh Atid to keep the chareidim out of the coalition for if they enter it will too costly for the government.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)