Rav Aryeh Leib Shteinman, Shlita (May he live good and long days), the acknowledged leader of the Lithuanian Haredim in Israel, has ordered the Degel HaTorah (Lithuanian) component of the United Torah Judaism party not to agree to any deals with Prime Minister Netanyahu, effectively killing for now any rapprochement between Netanyahu and the Haredi parties. But Netanyahu actually has to be pretty happy about this.... Note the bold language below.
Netanyahu hoped that UTJ and Shas would promise to recommend to
President Reuven Rivlin that he form a coalition after the election.
The prime minister was rejected Saturday night by Shas leader Arye Deri and MK Ya’acov Litzman of UTJ’s Agudat Israel party.
Shteinman,
100, put the final nail in the coffin of Netanyahu’s plan in a meeting
with Degel Hatorah MKs Moshe Gafni, Uri Maklev and Ya’acov Asher
Sunday.
“We will not sign any document with Netanyahu now,” Gafni
told Army Radio. “We will meet with Netanyahu after the election,
hopefully when we have more strength and [Yesh Atid leader Yair] Lapid
has been weakened.”
Litzman said in an interview with Ynet that
“If they want us in the coalition, they will have to turn the clock
back on anti-haredi [ultra-Orthodox] legislation.”
Degel
Hatorah, Agudat Israel and Shas have been coordinating their strategy
regarding political maneuvers. They all decided against joining any
alternative governments that could be formed by Labor leader Isaac
Herzog or Lapid without an election.
“We will not form a
government with Yair Lapid or form a coalition with him,” Gafni said.
“We will support the prime minister if he initiates elections. We won’t
let anyone else form a different coalition.”
Looks like we're going to have another election soon....
Jerusalem negotiations bill fails as Feiglin only coalition MK to vote in favor
A bill that would bar negotiations over Jerusalem without the approval of at least 80 of the 120 MK's failed in a preliminary reading in the Knesset on Wednesday after passing the Ministerial Legislation Committee earlier this week. The only coalition MK to vote in favor was Moshe Feiglin (Likud). Most of the other members of the coalition from the land of Israel's protectors - the Jewish Home and Likud parties - absented themselves from the vote.
12 MKs supported the bill; 51 MKs opposed. One abstained and another
two Knesset members declined to participate in the voting process.
According to Maariv, both Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid were among the votes against the proposal.
The only coalition member to vote for the proposed bill was MK Moshe
Feiglin (Likud-Beytenu). Both Jewish Home and the rest of the
Likud-Beytenu MKs were absent from the Knesset session.
Two months ago, the Committee for Legislative Affairs approved the bill,
which was originally proposed by MK Yaakov Litzman (United Torah
Judaism). The bill, if passed, would have blocked foreign nations from
introducing the division of the Holy City as a factor in negotiations
without approval from at least 80 Knesset members. Negotiations without
that approval would have been declared not legally binding for the state
or for the Jerusalem municipality.
The explanatory section of the bill explains that "Jerusalem is a
united city, and it shall not be distributed or divided by anyone. The
sanctity of Jerusalem was not given to foreign parties."
Litzman insisted that both the Prime Minister and the Jewish Home
parties had expressed support for the bill. It remains unclear why they
were not present at the Knesset vote.
Unclear? It's very clear why they weren't present: they don't have the courage of their convictions. They're just slimy politicians.
You will recall that back in October, the Ministerial Committee on Legislation adopted a private member's bill offered up by MK Yaakov Litzmann (UTJ) that would require the prior approval of 80 of the Knesset's 120 members for the government to negotiate the dividing of Jerusalem. 'Justice' minister Tzipi Livni, who is Israel's 'chief negotiator,' and who would like nothing more than to give away some of those Haredi neighborhoods in 'east' Jerusalem, appealed the vote, preventing the bill from reaching the Knesset floor. On Sunday, the bill passed again, and this time it should reach the full Knesset.
The proposal, by MK Ya’acov Litzman (UTJ), was brought back to a vote after Justice Minister Tzipi Livni appealed it in October.
Litzman’s
bill mandates that 80 MKs are necessary to authorize any negotiations
with the Palestinians on whether to give up any part of Jerusalem.
Meretz
leader Zehava Gal-On said “the vote reveals the true face of the
Netanyahu government, which is committed to an ideology of the complete
Land of Israel and wants to sabotage any future peace treaty.”
“The
Netanyahu government sends Livni to negotiate, but at the same time
allows the Knesset to put in preconditions that torpedo any possibility
of negotiating on Jerusalem. Even the Netanyahu government knows that
there won’t be an agreement without dividing sovereignty in Jerusalem.
Therefore, supporting this bill goes against logic and allowing the
government to negotiate on anything,” Gal-On stated.
...
In
October, after appealing the bill when it was first approved by the
Ministerial Committee, Livni said that responsible ministers must allow
the government to make policies before they reach the Knesset.
“Members
of the coalition are ruining the ability of Israel to make diplomatic
decisions and saying the government shouldn’t deal with security
concerns out of some kind of populism,” she said incredulously. “Do they
want the government to defend our interests, including Jerusalem, or do
they want to lead us all to chaos?” Livni emphasized at a Hatnua
faction meeting that “no one can teach us about Jerusalem and no one
loves Jerusalem more than us. Jerusalem isn’t a haredi or religious
matter, it is a deep, national one.”
Yeah, right.... But if she could some of those Haredim out of Jerusalem, she'd be very happy.
Ministerial Committee on Legislation slaps Livni across the face
Remember the bill that Tzipi Livni thought she had killed, which would require 80 MK's to negotiate about Jerusalem? Well the Ministerial Committee on Legislation slapped Livni across her arrogant face on Sunday, approving the bill by opposition MK Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) and sending it to the full Knesset for a vote.
The Ministerial Committee for
Legislation approved Sunday a bill proposed by MK Yakov Litzman (United
Torah Judaism) stating that the government cannot conduct negotiations
with a foreign entity about the division of Jerusalem or its partial
relinquishment without receiving the approval of 80 Knesset members --
two-thirds of the legislature.
The explanatory portion of the bill states:
"Jerusalem is a city that was reunited. It will not be divided and no
part of it will be handed over to anyone. Jerusalem's sanctity was not
given to outsiders. This bill prevents the possibility that at any stage
in any political process there will be a discussion about the status of
the city of Jerusalem, the joy of the people in Israel. Due to past
incidents in which there were talks about giving away parts of the city,
it is necessary to create a law that will not even allow the
possibility as the starting point of negotiations."
Livni - who is determined to expel as many observant Jews from their homes as possible - plans to appeal.
It will never pass, and if it passes, it will never be enforced
A nice try by Haredi MK Rabbi Yaakov Litzman, who is introducing a bill into the Knesset criminalizing anti-Haredi discrimination.
Those who boycott hareidi Jews solely because they are hareidi should
face ten years in prison, MK Yaakov Litzman (Yahadut Hatorah) proposed
in a suggested amendment.
The amendment would add a “prohibition on boycotting due to religion
or boycotting hareidi Jews” to the criminal code. The addition would
expand an existing law against racism and “hostility” based on race or
religion.
In an attachment explaining the proposal, Litzman wrote, “As the most
recent government was being established, it arose that there was a
group that chose to exclude the representatives of a significant part of
the public from the government, solely because they were hareidi.
“This terrible statement was not only not publicly criticized, but
became the basis on which the 33rd government of the state of Israel was
established. This kind of exclusion has no place in a pluralistic,
considerate, properly functioning society that knows how to respect and
appreciate the other despite the differences between them.
“Therefore there is a need to uproot this phenomenon… Adding the term
‘boycott’ and including the hareidi community in the definition of the
crime, and in the punishment expected, is intended to warn and to
prevent this from repeating itself,” he concluded.
You might recall that in a speech the week before the elections, Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett admitted that if a Haredi walked into the company he founded in Herzliya, or into any other high tech company in Herzliya, they would not be hired regardless of qualifications.
But this bill will never pass, and even if it does, it will never be enforced. Can you see the flaming Leftist Israeli Supreme Court ruling that a secular Leftist has to go to jail for discriminating against Haredim? That would truly be Messiah's times.
MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Yaakov Litzman stated “He is violating the
traditional and legal status of the bnei yeshivos who have declared
Torah study as their profession”. Litzman added that despite efforts to
set quotas and limit the number of talmidim who may continue learning,
“The Torah world of the yeshivos will continue flourishing
quantitatively and qualitatively and there is no power that will succeed
to harm those who are committed to a life of Torah.”
MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Meir Porush added “Anyone with a hand or a role
in the new arrangement that intends to harm bnei yeshivos and the
current arrangement, the arrangement that existed to date will be
remembered for eternal disgrace.”
“The eternal Jewish People have stood firm throughout history in the
face of many trials and tribulations. There is no doubt that we will
succeed in the face of these gezeiros as well,” he concluded.
Shas MK Nissim Ze’ev called Bennett’s plan “utter nonsense”,
confident it will not be implemented as Bennett plans. Ze’ev feels it is
impossible to limit of number of lomdei Torah to 1,800 annually,
questioning how such a regulation will be enforced. “There is no way the
Torah world and roshei yeshiva will agree to permit implementation of
the program. The idea of a quota system is undemocratic and reminiscent
of regimes of the past. There is a historical relevance to these
decisions.”
Indeed, the problems with this system are entirely foreseeable. Which yeshivas will have the right to designate how many of their students? What criteria will be used? Based on past experience in this country, it is likely that many of the slots will go to students in non-Haredi yeshivas, that the slots will be handed out based on protectzia (connections), and possibly that the Haredi yeshivas will all be told by someone on the level of R. Aaron Leib Steinman or R. Chaimn Kanievsky not to participate.
But what's worst of all is that this system is not the answer to the country's problems except for those who seek to destroy the yeshivas. Reader Aryeh Z, whose sent me the link to this article, had some very pertinent comments about it, which I am reproducing below.
Twenty-five or is it already thirty years after the IDF professionals requested that the draft be ended and that it be made into a professional army, we still have the draft. Let it be clear, there is no military need for a draft. The draft exists as a means of political and social control. It wastes Billions of Shekels and tens of thousands of people every year.
There is constant bantering about how the Hareidi community needs to change due to changing circumstances. Nothing is said about the need for the Secular elites changing due to changing circumstances. And that is the real problem. Israel’s elites have yet to abandon their dream of creating a Communist utopia in Israel. A utopia populated with a docile and obedient proletariat that will work their fields and factories. For the most part, they do not have any theological or philosophical problems with Torah. It is just that it gets in the way of their plans. That is why they are willing to throw a bone or two to the Torah community in the hope it will help keep them docile.
So let us focus on the real issues. It is not the draft, it is not the Hareidim, it is not the economy, it is tyranny. It is on the desire of the few thousand “aristocrats” desperate to maintain their privileges and high standard of living. This is not all that different from what is happening in Syria, Egypt, Iran and North Korea. We are fortunate that, so far, our “aristocrats” have not resorted to mass murder to retain power.
Divide and conquer? Bennett suggests to UTJ to join government without Shas, UTJ blows him off
In a bid to separate United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas, Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett has suggested to UTJ that they join the coalition alone, according to the Haredi website Kikar Shabbat (link in Hebrew). MK Rabbi Yaakov Litzman (above) was offered to keep his position as deputy Health Minister (in a ministry where there is no minister - that's how UTJ always takes portfolios. But UTJ turned it down.
According to Kikar Shabbat, Bennett's motivation is an effort to change his party's image as an enemy of the Torah world. Jewish Home is also looking for a Haredi public relations adviser to assist in an approach to the Haredi community. Bennett also made a video for the Haredi community on Wednesday night.
Let's go to the videotape (sorry, Hebrew only).
Why is Bennett doing this? Recall that UTJ got 17% of the vote in Judea and Samaria, and Shas got another 10%. While I would bet that much of that vote came from the Haredi cities right along the 'green line' (Kiryat Sefer and Beitar), it's likely that there are also a lot of people in those towns who voted for Bennett, and he's afraid that if he pulls all their sons out of the yeshivas, they won't vote for him again.
In the meantime, UTJ Knesset Member Rabbi Meir Porush has challenged Bennett to disclose his understandings with Yair Lapid (link in Hebrew), with respect to maintenance of the religious status quo. Porush argues that much of the national religious public would also like to know what understandings have been reached by Bennett and Lapid, particularly with respect to issues like public transportation on the Sabbath (there currently is none within any city that had a Jewish majority in 1948) and (although this isn't mentioned in the article) civil marriages (currently, the only marriages legally performed in Israel are religious marriages).
Porush is hitting a very sensitive point here. While the Haredi community would flee the organized Rabbinate and run its own sifrei yuchsin (genealogy books) in a second, the national religious community places religious significance on the state itself, and not just on the land. Changes in which the organized Rabbinate was rendered meaningless as an institution would not go over well with the national religious public.
Medical residents resign, ignoring Netanyahu request for 2 more weeks
For the last several months, Israel's doctors and hospitals have been carrying out labor sanctions. The real underlying issue - which is not being addressed - is the over-involvement of government in the medical system. We saw one result of that in a post that I did on Sunday.
About a month ago, the government reached a settlement with the doctors' union. The doctors - who are so underpaid that in some cities they are allowed to make up for it by seeing patients privately on hospital grounds (known as sharap here in Jerusalem where it exists) - agreed to a settlement that granted them a substantial raise. But the settlement left the medical residents in no better position than they were before. Medical residents here are grossly underpaid (I heard a doctor last week say that his monthly income came to about NIS 7,500 for which he would work 330-350 hours) and they felt that the more senior doctors were not representing their interests. They submitted a mass resignation letter, which was voided by the Labor court. They then submitted individual resignation letters which were to take effect on October 4. That date was postponed several times by the Labor court to today. Today, hundreds of young medical residents have resigned, despite an appeal from Prime Minister Netanyahu - who out of fear of the precedent it will set has tried to leave the matter to his surrogates - to delay their resignations for two weeks so that he may become involved.
According to Army Radio, a total of 260 residents did not show up for their morning shifts: 104 at Ichilov Hospital at Sourasky Medical Center, 71 at Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, 77 at Rambam Medical Center [out of 110 according to Israel Radio. CiJ] and eight at Bnai Zion Hospital.
Following the failure of the negotiations to produce a solution to the labor dispute, the sides had been expected to meet at the National Labor Court on Monday, where the state will likely request an injunction be issued against the resignations.
Thus far, the National Labor Court has declined to let residents resign over what they claim are unfair conditions agreed upon in the Israel Medical Association’s nine-year labor agreement with the employers, which was signed at the end of August.
After walking out on the talks with the Finance Ministry, the medical residents' representatives expressed frustration with the Treasury's "failure to understand the reality of the situation" and called on Netanyahu to intervene.
Without a compromise, all the sides have much to lose, as the physicians would not be given their jobs back once they carried out their threats to leave, and the Health Ministry desperately looked for other doctors to fill their places.
But there was a big surprise this morning. The government hospitals assumed that they could at least cover for the absence of the residents with senior doctors, but the senior doctors' union announced this morning that they would not cover. And just to sweeten the pie, the medical students announced that they will not start school on October 23 unless this is resolved. That would mean a delay in the readiness of the next rounds of medical residents to take their positions.
Doctors here are grossly underpaid. On the other hand, limiting services to emergency cases (and I'm not even sure there are enough doctors to provide those except in the short term) is likely to turn a lot more patients into emergency cases, or worse. Doctors shouldn't be on strike. They also shouldn't be treated like sanitation workers or baggage handlers.
Unfortunately, the real solution - getting the government out of the business of negotiating with the doctors and allowing the free market to work - cannot be implemented quickly enough. It's going to take a lot of goodwill - which is currently lacking - from all sides to make the system work.
Some of you might be wondering who the Minister of Health is. There isn't one. As I have mentioned once or twice before, ministries are handed out to political parties based on who needs to be in the coalition, and ministers don't necessarily know anything about the particular ministry in which they work. The Health Ministry is run by Deputy Minister Yaakov Litzman who - as part of the coalition agreement - has no minister above him (Litzman is from United Torah Judaism, which in principal takes only deputy ministries and the chairmanship of the Knesset Finance Committee). Would things be different if there were a medical professional in charge of the Health Ministry? Possibly, but I have my doubts. In any event, we have heard much less from Litzman in this crisis than we have from the doctors, the finance ministry and the Prime Minister's office.
So if you're in Israel, please try to stay healthy. And if you're a doctor living abroad who has dreamed of making aliya, this might be your time to try to cut a deal.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
