A number of anti-religious bills put forward by MKs from One
Israel have drawn fire from chareidi and religious MKs, who
denounced the bills as being a total contradiction to the
coalition agreement. One of the bills, sponsored by MK Avi
Yitzchak (One Israel), calls for the draft of yeshiva
students. The proposal is identical to the one proposed by
Ehud Barak when he was leader of the opposition. Religious
MKs demanded that Barak make it clear to his party that the
coalition agreement prohibits MKs from issuing private
proposals on religious issues. MK Naomi Chazan of Meretz
presented a proposal to change the existing marriage and
divorce laws, and to enable civil marriages and divorces. In
submitting the bill, Chazan denounced halocho and the
botei din, as well as the Rabbinate and the
Rabbonim. She claimed that the "laws of marriage which
are based on a religious monopoly [sic] are not suitable for
Israeli society at the end of the 20th century."
Chareidi observers pointed out that problem has more to do
with the degraded state of Israeli secular society than the
3,500 year-old laws governing marriage and divorce. Another
piece of legislation proposed by Chazan, to be known as Basic
Law: "Freedom of Religion and Conscience" is no less anti-
religious. An identical law was proposed by Meretz in the
previous Knesset, but at that time the coalition joined
forces in order to prevent its passage.
This proposal aims to topple all of the religious legislation
passed since the establishment of the State, and to cancel
the status quo, by according full recognition to the Reform
and Conservative movements, giving approval to missionaries,
opening all of roads and highways on Shabbos, recognizing
civil marriages, permitting massive Shabbos desecration in
all areas, graves desecration, and a long list of the most
serious types of breaches in all religious issues.
The proposal was presented as a Basic Law, because such laws
override existing precedent. In light of bitter experiences,
the chareidi community maintains that all Basic Laws are
dangerous, and chareidi representatives oppose them without
even relating to their content.
MK Yossi Katz (One Israel) is also a partner to the
initiative to pass a law for the formulation of a
constitution. The proposed law determines that a committee
should be established to write and enact the constitution.
This proposal suggests the composition of the committee and
who will appoint its members.
The coalition agreement determines that proposals such as
these may not be presented without government consent, and
that no efforts on behalf of a Constitution be made without
the approval of the entire coalition.
United Torah Judaism MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni quipped: "There are
MKs who decided to topple the government even before it has
established itself."
In another development the UTJ has expressed concern over the
fact that the Prime Minister has delayed fulfilling a promise
to establish a committee that would prepare a law to protect
yeshiva students from the draft. Barak,who undertook to
establish the committee as soon as the coalition was
finalized, now says that he will establish it only after he
returns from the Untied States.
The Prime Minster told UTJ MKs who asked him to explain the
delay, that he is busy with political matters. The committee
will now have only three months in which to complete and
present the proposed law.
UTJ MKs who sent a letter to the Prime Minster, reiterating
his obligation in the coalition agreement received a written
reply from government secretary, Yitzchok Herzog that the
Prime Minister and the Defense Minister plan to appoint the
members of the committee in the very near future, as promised
in the agreement.
"The political and security pressures which have arisen since
the Prime Minister's assumed office, have made it very
difficult for him to deal with the issue of which you have
spoken. The Prime Minster intends to appoint the committee
upon his return from the United States."
The UTJ MKs responded by openly questioning why the Prime
Minister was able to find ample time to engage in the issue
of expanding the government, even though the draft issue is
far more consequential.
In an unrelated development, six of the 17 seats on the
Knesset Finance Committee have been assigned to UTJ and Shas.
Another seat is assigned to the National Religious Party
(NRP).
Prime Minister Ehud Barak's One Israel agreed to give two of
its own seats to MKs Rabbis Moshe Gafni and Ya'akov Litzman
from UTJ. A third member, Rabbi Meir Porush, will also serve
on the committee.
The rest of the committee will comprise two MKs from One
Israel two Likud representatives, a Meretz MK, an Arab MK, an
MK from Shinui and one MK from the Center party. One Israel
also acceded to UTJ's request to have the Knesset plenum
approve its representatives on the committee by name--a move
that will make it more difficult for the coalition to unseat
these members if they vote against the government.
In other words, if One Israel wants to regain control of the
two seats, it will now need the approval of the Knesset
plenum--something that will be difficult to do.
