MK Moshe Gafne blames the machlokes between his party and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on the mayor’s chareidi advisors, who he accuses of “doing more damage than all others”. Gafne blames the mayor for making Jerusalem more secular and for violating the long-standing religious status quo.
Speaking with Kol Berama Radio’s Moshe Glasner, Gafne addressed the situation in daycare centers and kindergartens in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood. He explained the matter is not organized as it should be and this was the case last year. He explained he has spoken to the mayor about this very problem and he now believes the “city has an agenda which is not to solve this problem”.
Gafne feels that anyone who voted for Barkat must ask himself the questions, for he blames the mayor for secularizing the city. This most understood as a hint pointing in the direction of Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman.
Gafne then stated one should not attack the mayor personally but should address the issues at hand. “The chareidi advisors are doing all the damage, more damage than anyone who has harmed us. They are creating machlokes between us” he added.
The veteran lawmaker emphasized the system will not dictate to the frum education system, adding he has been consulting with Gedolei Yisrael Shlita and they are working on the issue of registration for girls in seminaries to make sure that not a single girl remains at home without a school.
He expressed his support for regional registration, meaning to say girls are assigned to a school based on geographical location. He stipulated that this must include all the girls in a certain area, litvish, chassidish, Ashkenazi and Sephardi for if this is not the case it is not truly regional registration. Whatever the case may be he stressed “The Education Ministry will not decide for us”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
One can not “blame” a politician for keeping his campaign promises. Barkat promised to make Jerusalem more secular, and that is what he is doing. That is how a democracy works. The reality is that to most zionists, Jerusalem is too Jewish and too frum and has too many hareidim.
The blame game is a card played by all in leadership roles… How about changing the mode to the “Solution Game”?
I agree with Akuperma. If we chareidim fracture ourselves so much that it allows for such a mayor to take over our Holy City, we have ourselves to blame. If we chareidim had a clear majority on the city council and I was mayor, I would democratically legislate the secular schools out of existence, tying the acceptance of a strong core curriculum of Limudei Kodesh for every school in the city to government support. Any school that did not strictly comply would be forced to become private.
I would promise in my campaign to make Jerusalem the Holy City of Torah it was designed to be.
I would not allow any consulates to open in the city, preferring instead to persuade some hicktown outside the city to become ConsulateCity, where all the consulates could situate themselves next to each other. It would make spying on each other easier. I certainly would prevent any country from setting up an embassy in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv, the secular capital of Israel, is more suited for that. I would even advocate moving the Knesset there. Churches would also need to move out or change their belief system, whichever is easier.