Shas MKs had a good reason for not attending the Knesset session in which visiting UK Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the plenum. They were attending the bris of a grandson of Aryeh Deri.

It appears that someone forgot to inform MK Nissim Ze’ev, who hurriedly left the bris to make it to Knesset in time. When he sat down it did not take him long to realize he was the only chareidi MK present. Then it hit him, the chareidi MKs were boycotting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s address, which preceded the visiting prime minister’s. Even when one of his colleagues signaled him to walk out he preferred to remain. Ze’ev explains that even after realizing what was going on he felt it was not proper to get up and leave, so he opted to remain, assuming the Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks would be brief, which they were not.

Ze’ev was critical of his chareidi colleagues following the event, for he felt it was disrespectful and inappropriate to walk out or interrupt Mr. Netanyahu’s address to embarrass him in front of the visiting dignitary. Ze’ev explains when a visiting dignitary is present and MKs conduct themselves as they did, it is a Chilul Hashem.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)