Yahadut Hatorah MKs are fuming after Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited the Big Center in Ashdod to give support to store owners operating on Shabbos. Chareidim are working to shut the mall down on Shabbos and now, with the passage of the Shabbos Law, they are hopeful this will occur.
Lieberman on the other hand, has been an outspoken opponent of the law and this past Shabbos, he decided to act, coming to Ashdod to be mechazeik those being Mechalel Shabbos R”L. He told them the new law is meaningless, encouraging them to continue operating on Shabbos if they wish to do so.
Yahadut Hatorah sees Lieberman’s actions actions as provocative, and are demanding Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu censure him for visiting the mall on Shabbos, which they state is clearly “an act of incitement by a senior government official on the holy day”.
Shas party chairman, Aryeh Deri, who was once a close friend and ally of Lieberman, issued his statement explaining he is done and that Lieberman has crossed all acceptable lines and this time around, has simply gone too far. He added that even Tommy Lapid, father of MK Yair Lapid and who was known as not being a fan of Yiddishkheit, would not have done such a thing.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
There is no foreseeable right-wing coalition without Lieberman and any centrist or left-wing coalition will almost surely be considerably less friendly to charedim than the current coalition. Beware of what you wish for.