While Health Minister Yaakov Litzman resigned from his cabinet post over Chilul Shabbos by Israel Railways, there are no signs that he or the other chareidi parties are leaving the coalition, which would result in a call for early elections.
However, efforts continue to amend the induction law, to reach agreement regarding chareidi induction into the IDF and most feel this is too important for chareidi parties to leave Knesset. Therefore, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is confident the current crisis will not lead to early elections, at least not in the coming weeks.
There have also been other precedents of Chilul Shabbos while chareidim remained in the coalition. From Litzman’s perspective, he explained the Gerre Rebbe Shlita instructed him to step down as minister, unwilling to be a member of a cabinet that turns a blind eye to Chilul Shabbos.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
One Response
Any coalition that does NOT include the “Chareidi” parties, will be a coalition that includes additional parties for whom opposition to Torah and MItsvos is a core belief, and the basis of their demands for joining a coalition. In addition, with the loss of government funding (“patronage”) for their institutions, the pro-medinah “Chareidi” parties will lose influence relative to the anti-zionist Chareidi factions. It’s a “lose-lose” situation for the frum parties to quit the government.
Remember it is not the “government” turning a “blind eye” to Hillul Shabbos. It is that the political leadership of zionist Israel, reflecting the views of most non-Arabs in Eretz Yisrael, strongly favors Hillul Shabbos and is restrained only by coalition politics.