In light of the treasury calling on coalition partners to accept an across-the-board cut in funding, the Moetzas Gedolei Yisrael of Agudas Yisrael will be convening. The meeting follows an urgent motzei Shabbos meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office attended by Yaakov Litzman (Agudas Yisrael) and Moshe Gafne (Degel Hatorah).
Last week the chareidim told PM Netanyahu that any cuts in the child allowance payments and yeshiva funding, both agreed upon in the coalition agreement, would not be tolerated, signaling cuts may spark a coalition crises.
The meeting is set for 16:00 on Monday, 3 Menachem Av. Ahead of the meeting it is reported the Gerrer position is one of inflexibility, possibly even at the cost of breaking the coalition. Belze is exhibiting a willingness towards flexibility amid a reality the budget cuts are not just impacting the chareidim, but across-the-board to all coalition partners.
Also on the agenda is the ongoing machlokes between Agudah and Degel regarding who will receive the chareidi slot on the committee to appoint dayanim? Degel’s Moshe Gafne announced he wants the post as did Agudah’s Yisrael Eichler. On Sunday, Moshe Gafni and Uri Maklev met in Bnei Brak with Maran HaGaon HaRav Aaron Yehuda Leib Shteinman Shlita, with the Gadol Hador quoted saying Gafne and Degel should remain adamant regarding the committee slot.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
The Belze position is the most reasonable because a proportionate decrease is fair, since a decrease in the budget is needed. Plus, the coalition is not just about money but many religious status quo issues are at stake, that UTJ needs to remain in the coalition to assure that they are not threatened. There are many who voted UTJ because they are the consistent voice for Torah and not because they’ll receive funding.
Good Luck on that holdout Degel, you may, in the end both be left with nothing.
all chareidim should go on a tax strike to protest this blatant anti-Chareidi law.
Tirtza,,,,glad there are those that see the forest and not only the trees or saplings.
When there is an overall budget reduction in the workplace, school or home, EVERYONE that includes everyone suffers from the same percentage reduction. The lower-salaried secretary pay check is reduced as is the CEO. This is not blatant anything except budget balancing.
#2 BTW just for your knowledge, there are others outside the Chareidi world that will receive the same reduction.
The chareidim ran for office and agreed to enter the coalition for the purpose if havinr the government restore previous cuts. Now they agree instead to additional cuts.
One thing can be said for the chareidi (and probably many other politicians) is that they don’t just stand on principle, they actually crush it!
The chareidim don’t hold power in the coalition and that is not what they bargained for in talks. They bargained to stop the reductions and based on that agreement they joined the coalition. They can no take a back seat on this matter.
Other coalition partners got power as well so reductions is not the key for those parties. For the chareidim those funds were the main stipulation for joining.
One of the reasons that the chareidi parties are so insistent about the monthly child allowance is that that money is the ONLY break that large families have here in EY.
Contrary to what the left-wing media in EY would have everyone believe, the vast majority of large chareidi families have both parents working. The income bracket for not paying income tax is incredibly low here – and unlike the U.S., there is virtually no reduction for children. By virtually I mean this: no matter how many children a family has, they only get a tax break for those under the age of 2 or 3.
So for frum families, the monthly allowance – while it is far, far less than it once was – is the only break they get.
It’s interesting that these moetzes meeting are always about something political/administrative. Has anyone ever heard about them meeting to discuss Torah?