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NEWS
MK Gafni: NRP Resigned from the Coalition Due to the
Disengagement Plan, Not Collapse of Religious Services
By Eliezer Rauchberger
The Knesset plenum rejected on Monday two no-confidence
motions submitted by opposition parties, one on the issue of
the failure to pay religious council employees their salaries
and the other on the dire state of hospital wards.
The joint NRP-HaIchud HaLeumi no-confidence motion on
religious services was supported by 24 MKs from opposition
parties while 45 MKs from the coalition parties—the
Likud, Labor, Degel HaTorah and Agudas Yisroel—backed
the government. The Shas-sponsored no-confidence motion on
the collapse of the hospital system was supported by 34 MKs,
including Shinui members, while 44 MKs backed the government.
Five MKs from Yachad abstained.
Speaking before the plenum session, MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni said
that Degel HaTorah had decided to support the government in
these no-confidence motions despite abstaining from a no-
confidence vote last week and despite the ongoing failure to
carry out several clauses of the coalition agreement. "But
this does not obligate us for next week," he stressed.
He attacked the no-confidence motion on the issue of
religious services submitted by the NRP, the very same party
that, due to the agreement it signed with Shinui and its
coalition partnership with Shinui, caused the collapse of
religious services in Israel. "The NRP went and dismantled
the religious services, destroyed the system together with
Shinui and did not resign from the government over the issue
of religious services," said MK Gafni. "It resigned because
of the Disengagement Plan and the pressure applied to it over
this issue. The pressure was not because of closed
mikvehs, and not because people were not receiving
their pay. This is not what they resigned over."
He then proceeded to dismiss the NRP's contentions regarding
religious services. "At least a bit of humility is called
for. To keep out of sight. But to come to us with gripes?
Rabbi Ravitz and I face new bouts of indecision every five
minutes. We signed a coalition agreement in order to rectify
what you destroyed. The government held a special meeting on
the issue, which did not take place once during the NRP's
period. And we reassess ourselves constantly to determine
whether the government's decisions will solve the problem or
not. We take nothing for granted. Even the ministry the NRP
had, the Welfare Ministry, is available to us [Note: As a
deputy minister the Prime Minister as the minister in charge]
and we are not taking it. Rabbi Ravitz could run the Welfare
Ministry and he is not taking it because of religious
services, because of ideological issues. I have heard much
hypocrisy in this building, but such hypocrisy as
this—and without even blushing . . . ?"
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