The chareidi representation in the Knesset scored a most
important achievement this past Monday, when the Knesset,
with 51 supporters, as opposed to 46 opponents and 2
abstentions, approved the amendment to the Law of Religious
Councils, which, it is hoped, will prevent the inclusion of
the Reform and Conservative in the religious councils.
This amendment states that on halachic issues, every
religious council will be obligated to operate under the
instructions of the Chief Rabbinate and the local rabbinate,
and that every member of a religious council will have to
obligate himself to operate according to this law. The Reform
and Conservative will, it is assumed, not reconcile
themselves to submission to the Chief Rabbinate, and
therefore it is hoped that this will prevent their entry into
the religious councils.
The law was approved after many efforts to enlist all of the
various components of the coalition to vote for the
amendment. However, the main reason for its passage is that
most of the Arab Knesset members were absent from the voting.
The efforts of MK Chaj Yichya of the Labor party, who
supported the law, are particularly noteworthy.
Knesset members Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz and Rabbi Meir Porush of
UTJ, as well as Rabbi Arye Deri of Shas, worked strenuously
over the past few days in order to ensure a majority for the
law, and especially to persuade the Arab Knesset members not
to participate in the voting.
Even ministers and Knesset members of the coalition who are
not particularly known as supporters of religious issues,
such as Minister Refael Eitan (Tsomet), Minister Avigdor
Kahalani and MK's Yehuda Harel (Haderech Hashlishit), Naomi
Blumenthal and Zeev Baum, supported the law.
On the other hand, coalition MK's Eliezer Zandberg (Tsomet)
and Alex Lubotzki (Haderech Hashlishit) voted against the
law, as did the three of the Knesset members of Yisrael
Ba'Aliya. MKs David Levi and his younger brother Maxim of
Gesher did not support the law, and preferred to be absent.
Their fellow Gesher member, David Magen, opposed the law.
Benny Begin and Dan Meridor did not vote.
Most of the members of the opposition parties voted against
the law. The chairman of the Labor party, MK Ehud Barak,
opposed the law, as did the former Prime Minister Shimon
Peres.
The members of the chareidi and religious parties in the
Knesset were very satisfied with the results of the vote and
with the approval of the first reading of the law, and asked
that the law be approved as soon as possible in its second
and third reading, which would make it take effect.
At the end of the voting, pandemonium erupted in the Knesset
plenum, after Yossi Sarid called the law antisemitic. His
remarks drew vociferous reactions from the coalition and from
the religious MKs, and contradictory remarks from the
opposition. Knesset chairman Dan Tichon threatened to
terminate the session.
Arab MK Talab Elsana explained the reason for the abstention
of his faction, saying that its members had decided not to
interfere in internal religious affairs of the Jewish Nation.
He expressed his hope that the Jewish Knesset members would
behave similarly regarding controversial issues within the
Arab populace.
After this vote the government was shocked when its
Arrangements Law, an essential part of the budgetary process,
was defeated in the Knesset by a vote of 55 to 55 with two
abstentions. UTJ made its support for the Arrangements Law
contingent on passage of the Religious Councils amendment,
and it voted in favor of the Arrangements Law. Two members of
Yisrael Ba'Aliya abstained in the vote, including Cabinet
Minister Yuli Edelstein, and thereby caused the law to fail.
The government, which had worked very hard to ensure passage
and thought that it had succeeded, said it would present this
essential law again later in the week.
Parliamentary observers said that this failure emphasizes the
need for early elections, showing that the government does
not have the votes to govern.
