An unusual sight was seen in the Knesset last week when the
chareidi MKs from United Torah Jewry and Shas brought the
plenum to a halt as an act of protest against the
government's constant scheming and deliberate attacks against
every area of chareidi education, religious services and
religious values, the religious council workers' withheld
wages and the general undermining of the Jewish character of
the State of Israel.
The chareidi MKs made an uncommon show of dissent after they
felt the government had crossed all lines in its disregard
for the chareidi public, focusing their protests on the
failure to pay the religious council workers--including
rabbonim--for many months while the suffering of these
government workers does not even appear to be part of the
government's agenda.
It all began during a meeting of the Knesset's religious
lobby before the plenum when members began to lodge criticism
against the government's ongoing decrees against chareidi
Torah and educational institutions carried out by the
Ministries of Education and Welfare.
Rabbi Avrohom Friedman, representing the directors of the
Yeshiva Union, presented some of the serious decrees the
government has imposed on the Torah world. For example:
Yeshivos ketanos were allocated NIS 340 ($75) per
student per month one year ago, whereas today that amount has
dropped to a mere NIS 120 ($25). The Welfare Ministry
allocated a sum of NIS 520 ($120) per student for chareidi
dormitories, whereas today it provides a mere NIS 60
($13).
During the meeting a proposal was raised to disrupt the
plenary session and committee meetings until the Prime
Minister and his ministers reflect and realize they cannot
continue to sever the country from Judaism. In this spirit of
resolve the chareidi MKs walked down to the plenary hall.
Suddenly, without any advance warning, all of the chareidi
MKs, along with Uri Ariel of HaIchud HaLeumi, stepped up and
stood in the front of the hall near the government's table
opposite the Speaker's platform and began protesting loudly,
primarily against the harm done to religious services and the
withholding of the religious council workers' salaries.
The 60-odd MKs and ministers in the plenary hall at the time
were astonished by the sight of so many MKs organizing a
demonstration right in the middle of the plenary hall. The
main thrust of their anger was directed towards Interior
Minister Avraham Poraz, who sat in his seat at the
government's table. The MKs accused him and his party of
responsibility for the collapse of religious services and the
prolonged delay in paying salaries.
The chareidi MKs announced they would not allow discussions
to be held in the plenary hall undisturbed until the problem
of the religious council workers was solved, precipitating a
large uproar. MKs from Meretz and Labor joined the protest,
backing the chareidi MKs' claims and adding a demand to solve
the problem of the local authority workers, many of whom have
also not received salaries for many months.
Interim Knesset Chairman MK Moshe Kachalon appeared hapless
in the face of the highly unusual event, and had no
alternative other than to announce a two-minute recess.
When the meeting resumed and everyone assumed the storm was
over, the chareidi MKs returned to the center of the plenary
hall and repeated their resolute announcement they would not
allow plenary sessions to run normally. "It cannot be that in
the Knesset everything continues as usual while such a large
segment of the public is groaning and has not received a
salary for many months and nobody cares," said one MK. "If
their lives are disrupted, life here will be disrupted
too."
Kachalon tried in vain to restore calm and return the irate
MKs to their seats, calling their protest "theatrics," but
the chareidi MKs remained in the middle of the hall, not
heeding the calls to take their seats. Neither did the
insistent entreaties by Knesset staffers succeed in restoring
order. At that point Kachalon began to call each of the
protesters individually to order and when they failed to
respond he had them escorted out of the plenary hall one by
one, as they pledged not to rest until the religious council
workers were extricated from their present plight.
Even after the demonstrators had all been removed, the hall
was still in a state of agitation. Throughout the incident a
speaker stood on the podium and tried to continue his
speech.
According to Knesset regulations even if an MK is removed
from the plenary hall he must be brought back in for the
subsequent vote. Therefore when the first matter came to a
vote the chareidi MKs returned to the hall, whereupon they
immediately resumed their protest beside the government's
table. Following a suggestion by House Committee Chairman MK
Roni Bar-On to permit one of the chareidi MKs to take the
speaker's podium and present their grievances, Kachalon
called up Shas Chairman Eli Yishai.
Yishai took advantage of the time he was granted to decry the
government's conduct and its deliberate scheming against
religious services and religious council workers. "Today we
are voicing the rage of hundreds of thousands of people. We
are speaking for tens of thousands of hungry families that
are hungry for bread. Children who do not have supper
tonight. The many religious council and local authority
workers who have not been paid for a long time. This is a
terrible crisis that is being ignored here. There are
rabbonim, mashgichei kashrut, mikva workers,
department heads, chevra kadisha workers, people
engaged in holy work, who are not receiving their pay."
Yishai spoke with great passion, aiming most of his remarks
at Interior Minister Avraham Poraz, who he accused of closing
off the taps of government funding for religious services.
Yishai then told the MKs that Poraz sent a letter to the
local authorities in which he wrote whoever allocated funding
to organizations for dogs, cats and other animals would be
recognized and receive grants. "Is this not a crying shame?"
he cried out. "Is this not obtuseness and evil? Is this not
stupidity? What are we asking for? That if you don't want the
local authority workers and the religious council workers,
fire them. But as long as they are employed they cannot be
thrown out into the street. As long as they are alive and
breathing, pay attention to them. Pay attention to the Torah
world, the yeshivas, the botei knesset--even if you
don't like this."
The moment Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu walked into
the plenary hall all of the chareidi MKs descended on him
charging him with responsibility for what is taking place at
the religious councils. The uproar in the hall was so loud
that almost nobody could hear anybody else. It was a din of
shouts and protest against the suppression of the chareidi
public and religious services in the State of Israel.
Meanwhile Shinui MKs kept demanding Kachalon remove all of
the chareidi MKs, but instead he announced a second
recess.
During the recess the MKs continued to argue until Labor
Party Chairman Shimon Peres took upon himself the task of
acting as a mediator. He suggested the Finance Minister sit
down with the chareidi representatives and listen to their
demands in an attempt to solve the problem.
Netanyahu agreed and outside of the plenary hall the group of
MKs explained to him the difficult situation the religious
council workers face. The Finance Minister claimed he had
been unaware of the severity of the situation but he agreed
to discuss it and see how he could help them solve the
problem. The MKs also demanded he take the speaker's podium
to publicly announce he agreed to solve the problem.
At the end of the conversation Netanyahu made a special
announcement before the plenum, saying, "The funding we
allocated to solve the crisis of the religious councils is
stopped up in the pipes." He promised to convene a meeting of
the professional figures involved, including the Internal
Minister and the new director-general of the Prime Minister's
Office, Ilan Cohen, to provide a solution as soon as
possible. He also noted that his appearance at this plenum
was above and beyond the scope of his responsibilities since
he does not directly handle the matter of wages for religious
council workers, but in this case he would be willing to
delve into the matter in an effort to solve the ongoing
crisis.
Throughout the rest of the day the chareidi Knesset members
took advantage of every opportunity the had to speak as a
result of private motions or legislative proposals, to
explain their vociferous opposition to the government's
conduct, which has done so much harm to religious services
and the chareidi education system.
They noted that this was just the beginning and from now on
they will make use of every opportunity to halt the
government's wild rampage against all the values Judaism
holds dear.
Shinui MKs also made repeated references to the morning's
events. Avraham Poraz even went so far as to lay the blame
for the collapse of the religious councils and the local
authorities on his predecessors at the Interior Ministry.
