Is it another empty plan? Is it merely the opening shot in
the next election campaign? Is it Barak's real conviction?
Most important, will anything be done about it? These are the
questions raised by Barak's resounding declaration about two
weeks ago that he aims to foment a "secular revolution."
Since Barak's entire government controls fewer seats than
Labor alone used to have in the early days of the State,
there is nothing that he can do if it requires Knesset
approval. He could not muster the votes to pass any
legislation, and certainly not something as dramatic and
controversial as a secular revolution or even any part of
it.
There remain, however, some areas in which the government has
the power to act without parliamentary approval: by Cabinet
approval or simply through the executive powers that various
ministers wield. It is in these areas that Barak could begin
his secularization of Israel.
One of the early moves announced was the dismantling of the
Ministry of Religions. In general, no Knesset approval is
required to create or dissolve government ministries. Even
large and powerful ministerial portfolios can be created
quite quickly, through a series of orders moving
responsibility for various functions. Thus it was thought
that Barak and Yossi Beilin (acting Minister of Religions)
could easily carry out their plan.
Few people are really happy with the Ministry of Religions,
so the opposition to its demise is not strong. Though no
religious politicians would have dismantled the Ministry, it
is hard to know if apportioning its functions to other
ministries will help or hurt the religious community in the
long run. In any case, it turned out that there are some 40
laws that require a minister of religion, so that position
also may not be ordered out of existence without the consent
of the Knesset.
Another area in which there is ministerial power that does
not require Knesset approval is public Shabbos observance,
including bus transport and airlines (El Al). Barak and other
ministers declared that they would operate bus routes on
Shabbos, as well as permit the national airline to fly on
that day.
The public debate that has ensued shows the complexity of the
issues, and exposes the militant secularist claim that they
represent the will of the majority as the sham that it really
is. On all the religious issues there is really a broad
national consensus for the way things are actually done,
though often it is only the noisy extremists who are
heard.
Top ranking leaders in Barak's own Labor party criticized the
Prime Minister for saying that he intends to operate public
transportation and El-Al flights on Shabbos, and even
political sources close to the Office of the Prime Minster
say that Barak's declarations conflict with the party
platform which supports the status quo on matters of
religion. All of the internal surveys show that 70% of the
members of the Labor party want Israel to have an explicitly
Jewish character. If Barak wants to change the status quo,
warn Labor party sources, he must raise this within the Labor
party institutions, where his ideas are liable to encounter
stiff opposition. In fact the Labor party institutions are
due to meet about this issue later this week, on Thursday.
Egged Also Objects
The Egged corporation opposes the idea of operating public
transportation on Shabbos for economic reasons. Egged claims
that the operation of busses on Shabbos isn't worthwhile at
all in financial terms, and if the government wants to
operate public transportation on Shabbos it will have to
subsidize it heavily.
Egged says that the demand for public transportation on
Shabbos is very low, and that the few busses which are
already operating are generally never more than half full and
often almost totally empty. According to Egged's spokesman,
Ron Ratner, the government can force Egged to operate on
Shabbos, and Egged will have no choice and will have to obey.
However, the government will have pay for it.
Today, the few buses that run on Shabbos are mainly from the
ends of the country: from Eilat and from Kiryat Shemoneh to
the center of the country. Unlike other cities, busses do run
in Haifa and its suburbs on Shabbos.
UTJ's Statement
United Torah Judaism (UTJ) issued a statement about these
matters. It read as follows:
UTJ sharply protests the anti-religious declarations of the
Prime Minister, which have reached a peak in his proclamation
of his intention to operate public transportation and El Al
flights on Shabbos. . . .
UTJ believes that the purpose of these declarations is to
pressure the religious parties in the Knesset to return to
the coalition, and Mr. Barak is just trying to use religion
for his own political purposes.
UTJ deems that before the Prime Ministers takes steps to
separate religion from state he should separate religion from
his political needs. UTJ notes that a number of the heads of
the Labor party have also openly opposed Barak's declarations
and attempts to undermine the status quo.
On Monday, the chaeridi MKs who sit on the Knesset Finance
Committee prevented the approval of a request from the
Finance Ministry to make various changes in the budget of the
Office of the Prime Minister in protest against the secular
revolution. Since the government has no real parliamentary
control, it is relatively easy for disgruntled MKs to make
their feelings known in such concrete actions. The Finance
Ministry was not even able to bring its request up for
debate.
Barak Defends Himself
Prime Minster Barak defended his social-civil plans for
Israel. However, he also softened his remarks saying that he
has no intention of using coercion, but rather of reaching an
understanding with all sectors regarding the new moves.
On Sunday Barak appeared in New York before the members of
the Conference of Presidents of Jewish Organizations in the
United States, stressing that he never defined his plan as a
"secular revolution" and has no intention of harming the
religious sector.
"Israel must become an open and pluralistic state. We will
not force this on the populace. It won't take place
overnight. I am a great believer in dialogue. A way must be
found to implement the plan through agreement," he said.
Along with this he argued: "It is time that Israel had a
constitution, and that a couple which cannot marry according
to the Orthodox approach will have another alternative
besides getting married in Cypress. . . . The millions of
Russian immigrants, most of whom do not have private cars,
should be given the opportunity to go to the beach on
Shabbos, to visit someone in the hospital or to travel to
entertainment."
He also said: "If we want to privatize El Al, there will be
no one who will want to buy a company whose planes are
grounded 15% of the time.
Chareidi Politicians Weigh In
Chairman of the UTJ party Rabbi Meir Porush said that Barak
will go down in history as one who aimed to cause strife
between the religious and the secular. "Barak is now barely
the Prime Minster of Meretz, and even One Israel is tired of
his fanciful ideas," said Rabbi Porush.
"Barak is draining the State of Israel of all its Jewish
content," said Eli Yishai, chairman of Shas. "Politically,
this constitutes a divorce from most of the traditional and
religious citizens of the State. . . . Barak takes hysterical
initiatives, whose sources stem from his feelings that he
might incur an ideological and political loss."
Rabbi Ravitz responded to Barak's proposals by saying: "Barak
is the first Prime Minister who is prepared to forgo being
the Prime Minister of a Jewish State, and sees before him
only his political survival. He is prepared to uproot all
that is at the basis of the Jewish Nation in order to remain
in power.
"I think that Barak is causing damage to the State of Israel,
to the government, to his party, and mainly to himself. I am
certain that we will overcome all of the decrees and will
merit a situation in which Israeli society will condemn this
terrible wave of outrageous decrees against Judaism," Rabbi
Ravitz concluded.
Rabbi Moshe Gafni also responded to Barak's comments: "Barak
is fulfilling his promise that he will be everyone's Prime
Minister. However, the problem is that he isn't everyone's
Prime Minster at the same time. One time, he is UTJ's Prime
Mister, when he promises to take measures against the
drafting of yeshiva students. Another time, he is the Prime
Minister of Meretz and Shinui, who will improve public
transportation. Then he is Shas' Prime Minister, who will
dismantle the Religious Affairs Ministry. After that, he
becomes the Prime Minister of the Likud, who won't divide
Jerusalem, and then the Prime Minster of the Left, who will
divide Jerusalem. Now we have to wait and see, whose Prime
Minister he will be next month. Apparently his future as a
Prime Minister won't be very long.
"Barak's remarks were very serious, even though it is clear
that he didn't intend to threaten the religious parties. For
the first time since the founding of the State, a Prime
Minister is trying to split the people and to divide it into
two camps, and we must drop him as fast as possible, because
his remarks are very dangerous, even though no one pays
serious attention to them," Rabbi Gafni concluded.
Last Friday Chief Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau attacked Barak for
his intention to permit buses and planes to operate on
Shabbos.
In a speech before the Commercial and Industrialist Club in
Tel Aviv, Rabbi Lau said that he blessed the desire to
separate religion and politics, however Barak himself makes
use of religion for political needs. "I ask therefore ask the
Prime Minster: Just as one must not use religion for as an ax
for political advancement, so is it forbidden to use the war
against religion for political advancement.
"I ask the Prime Minster to keep these minimal things which
constitute the seam which unites all parts of the nation, so
that the drapery won't unravel and we will be transformed
into two nations. There are already being two cultures
here."
Rabbi Lau spoke ironically about Barak's and Yossi Beilin's
intention to dismantle the Religious Affairs Ministry. He
said that in his opinion, the Religious Affairs Ministry
isn't sacred, and one must make sure that by its dismantling,
the religious services it provides to all who seek them won't
be harmed. HaRav Lau proposed in this context that the Prime
Minter also examine the abolishing of additional ministries
such as the Infrastructure Ministry and the Ministry for
Regional Development.
