Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, 1 Elul, made his position clear to the chareidi parties. He stated that the matter of the IDF draft law must be resolved within two week or he will move to early elections. Deputy Minister Yaakov Litzman appears defiant and unwilling to make any compromise. The prime minister appears to have endured as much as he is willing and prefers elections over being held over a barrel by Litzman.
Over the last few days, the voices calling for elections have been rising, in light of the storm surrounding the new draft law. Indeed, the prime minister himself informed the heads of the chareidi parties the clock has about run out. Netanyahu is demanding a quick solution or else he is setting a date for elections.
PM Netanyahu’s remarks were addressed to the Agudas Yisrael faction and Deputy Minister Yaakov Litzman, the faction that is delaying the approval of the draft law – at the request of the party’s Moetzas Gedolei Hatorah.
Mr. Netanyahu told the heads of the coalition factions: “If there is no breakthrough and compromise by the chareidi parties within two weeks, we will decide at the beginning of next month on a date for elections.”
Deputy Minister Litzman responded to Netanyahu’s remarks by saying: “The approval of the revised draft law is one of the main things that served as the basis for the coalition and the current government … We have no interest in the elections, but we cannot compromise on the fundamental issue of preserving the status of talmidei yeshivos. The Moetzas Gedolei Torah decides on the matter and we will do as they instruct us.”
The Likud said in response: Prime Minister Netanyahu is continuing his efforts to resolve the issue of the draft law.
The chairman of the Machane Tzioni faction and the center of the opposition, Yoel Hasson, responded: “Why wait two weeks. Elections now. The opposition is ready at all times to vote for dispersing the Knesset and going to elections.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
Isnt litzman the minister of health? Why is he mixing into politics?
Is it because he feels he hasn’t done much as minister so has to stick his nose into politics??
The bigger chidush is that nitanyahu is even goyres him!
Takes two,
What are you talking about?
Since Litzman is a politician he gets a ministerial position
Elections isn’t the better choice for Chareidim but it might be the better of the two evils!
@Takes2-2tango, you`r so funny. i guess you dont really know how the knesset works. when one first gets involved in politics and then he startes a party or gets appointed by one to run for seats in the knesset. when he wins a seat he not only becomes a lawmaker, voting if laws should be passed, proposing new laws, objecting laws, ( – in a nutshell, politics) but he is usually also appointed as for different positions for example as in litzmans case netanyahu appointed him as health minister, avigdor lieberman as defense minister, yair lapid minister of finance, tzippy livni (till she was fired) was justice minister, this how it works. dont tell me all these people i listed haven’t played a integral part of israeli poltics over the past few years.
i also think the fact that netanyahu appionted him as health minister means its not such a big chiddush (after all if hes heading such a big faction what else do you think??)
Mr. Netanyahu may be biting off more than he can chew. Either he backs down, which wouldn’t be unheard of for him, or he goes to elections with no guarantee what the outcome will be. Obviously he hopes that the chareidi parties will be more afraid of getting a government which doesn’t need them in the coalition than of buckling under about the draft law. Perhaps Mr. Netanyahu will discover that he is not as indispensable as he thinks he is.
@Takes2-2tango, what an ignoramus.
Learn a little bit about how a parliamentary government works, before giving your opinions.
Litzman is a MK who also serves the capacity of Deputy Health Minister.
The Health Minister is Bibi Netanyahu himself, yet that doesn’t seem to get in the way of him being Prime Minister, because he pretty much left Litzman in charge.
Avigdor Leiberman is Defense Minister, yet that doesn’t seem to distract him from working to pass a disastrous draft law that would draft 70% of Chareidim by 2028.
It’s not like in the US, where the Secretary of Defense or Energy has no real say in legislative matters.
They are all full time MK’S.
Midwest2 – At this time there seems to be very little risk (or chance, depending on your point of view) of the Likud not emerging from elections as the largest party in the Knesset or of Netanyahu not continuing as prime minister. And calling for elections over the subject of the Draft Law will only solidify and increase the popularity of both Netanyahu and the Likud. But new elections will almost certainly change the makeup of the Knesset and there is a very real possibility that the election results will make it difficult or even impossible for Netanyahu to include the charedi parties in his next coalition. So yes, Netanyahu would assume a small risk by calling for elections, but the risk for the charedi parties and for their interests would be far greater.