MK (Blue & White) Moshe Ya’alon, who holds the third slot on the Blue & White party list, spoke out against “secular coercion”, prompted by the Moti Steinmetz concert in Afula on Wednesday night. The concert was canceled and then reversed as the case was adjudicated by the Nazareth District Court, with women’s rights activists and others decrying the event, which had separate seating event, insisting it was discriminatory against women, and therefore, illegal.

Ya’alon, a former IDF Chief of Staff and Minister of Defense, explains that “there is no reason for secular coercion, and people should be able to live his beliefs”. Regarding party colleague Yair Lapid and his anti-chareidi election campaign video, Ya’alon commented, “we did not like it at all”.

In an interview with Kikar Shabbos News, Ya’alon explained the concert was not an official state event, but something organized by the Afula City Hall for the chareidi tzibur, and therefore, it would be correct in this case, with a chareidi performer, to permit separate seating as was first intended and finally occurred following the intervention of the Nazareth court.

Ya’alon added, “There is an array of voices in Blue & White, a ruling party. In the party, there are various opinion and I say it responsibly, that we all speak of the integration of the chareidi public in society”.

Regarding the inciteful election video released by Yair Lapid, he added, “We saw the response of [party leader] Benny Gantz and my response regarding the video. We were very displeased. One of our flags is that of achdus, and we commented on the type of video [released].

“We four are the party’s leaders and we discuss everything. We know what we agree on and I hope that our comments on the matter will lead to learning a lesson”, Ya’alon concluded.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)