At a meeting last week of the Knesset Constitution Committee,
Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz demanded that the chareidi sector be
included in the proposed Government Corporation Law whose
purpose is to grant appropriate representation to Arab, Druse
and Circassian representatives on the boards of government
corporations.
The Constitution Committee approved presentation of this
amendment for a second and third reading.
Rabbi Ravitz demanded inclusion of the chareidi sector in
this proposal, claiming that the chareidi sector should also
benefit from the law. He noted, "There is a greater
sensitivity to the needs of the Arab sector in Israel than to
those of the chareidi sector. This is apparent from the
building of schools, subsidy allocation, and now by this
proposed law insuring Arab representation in government
corporations."
Justice Ministry representatives as well as representatives
of the government corporations opposed Rabbi Ravitz's
proposal, claiming that the lack of chareidi representation
in government corporations is a result of a lack of academic
credentials and not a discriminatory policy. The committee
rejected Rabbi Ravitz's demand.
Since the Knesset Committee has rejected his demand, Rabbi
Ravitz intends to present his proposal to the Knesset plenum
in the form of a minority opinion at the law's second and
third readings. He suggests that instead of referring to
minority ethnic groups only, the law should state, "every
minority group."
