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Degel Hatorah held secret meeting with PM Olmert


degel hatorah.jpgThe Labor Party central committee is expected to meet next month to consider leaving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s coalition. But according to the Jerusalem Post – Olmert is taking steps to ensure his government does not collapse. The Prime Minister has apparently held a secret meeting on Sunday with Degel Hatorah MK Avraham Ravitz and made significant progress on a plan to allow Degel MKs Ravitz and Moshe Gafni to join the government without their four Agudat Yisrael colleagues from United Torah Judaism.

The coalition currently numbers 78 MKs, so if Labor’s 19 MKs were to leave it would fall to 59. Ravitz and Gafni’s joining would give Olmert the security of having a majority in the Knesset even without Labor.

Degel’s main request is for the government to pass a bill requiring equal funding for Chareidi education. Olmert expressed support for the legislation in the meeting, which was also attended by his advisers Yisrael Maimon and Ovad Yehezkel.

“I am in favor of granting your requests even if you don’t join the government, because your children as Israeli citizens deserve the same education as any other children,” Olmert told Ravitz during the meeting.

Ravitz said he noticed a sense of urgency on the part of Olmert and his advisers to finish the deal. He said he was negotiating with the approval of Degel’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv.

If Degel Hatorah joins the government without Agudat Yisrael, it would likely result in a split, for the third time, between the two parties that represent the Lithuanian and Chassidic sectors of Ashkenazi Chareidi Judaism. MK Ya’acov Litzman of Agudat Yisrael said he doubted that Degel’s rabbis would risk such an outcome.

“If there is another split, we will never again be able to unite,” he warned. “But I don’t see it happening that we’ll be in the opposition and they’ll be in the government. Degel is just trying to get money from the government, but they won’t succeed.”

Litzman said the relationship between Agudat Yisrael’s principal mentor, the Gerrer Rebbe, and Degel spiritual leaders Elyashiv and Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman had improved recently. He said it would be especially odd if Degel joined without Agudat Yisrael because the latter was interested in joining the government when it was formed but Degel declined.

Ravitz said he was encouraged by Labor leadership candidate Ophir Paz-Pines’s announcement on Tuesday night that he had collected enough signatures to force a meeting of the Labor central committee to consider leaving the government.

(Source: Jerusalem Post)



9 Responses

  1. As in the imortal words of Rodney King “Can’t we all juss’ get alonn’?”

    Olmert will break his promisses, the chareidim will continue to be second, no, third (after the arabs), no, fourth (after the mitnachlim) class citizens , he will give up more territory, more jews will be killed, and Pollard still sits…
    Happy Atzmaut!!

  2. “The Prime Minister has apparently held a secret meeting on Sunday with Degel Hatorah MK Avraham Ravitz”. Gosh, this is mighty secretive! In less than 24 hours since the SECRET meeting was held, we have quotes from Degel’s Rabbi Ravitz and all! If it was imperitive that it be secret why is it now all over the news. Gimme a break!

  3. It was only a secret that they are going to meet, so nobody would stop him, (was this also concealed from the Gedolim?).

    Now that he met, it makes no differance.

  4. Hi there, as a resident in Israel and a Torah-frum guy who works with mainly secular yidden in the legal field in Ramat Gan, there is a need for “telling it like it is”.
    There were bunches of comments re secular jews and why or whynot are they religious? All types of answers, corruption of country, zionist regime, religious fervor, hatered of chareedim, anti-religious knesset, i dun remember all the answers. The guys/gals i work with see it differently, and this post is the answer.
    To quote the crowds, “All religious people care and want is money and more money for them selves. They do not give a hoot for security in the land, needs of the homeless, druggies, single moms or army veterans. All they negociate or make agreements for is their own needs, they are segregationists and thats what the people i work wtih complain all the time.
    So a gimel meeting with PM is again, in order to get bucks for schools, families, and they will make a pact with the devil to get their money.
    (this is repeating what the talk of politics in the office is)

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