MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni symbolically tore up the coalition agreements which were signed between HaLikud Beiteinu, Yesh Atid and Habayit Hayehudi in the Knesset plenum in protest, declaring that "we reject those agreements which harm chareidi citizens and Torah students in this state and they shall not be implemented."
Rabbi Gafni, who spoke during a special session of the Knesset plenum regarding the new government, voiced sharp protest against this new government and its coalition agreements, stressing that the attitude expressed therein against the chareidi community and its Torah scholars "is not found in Israel even against cold-blooded murderers."
He noted that this government obligated itself to act against feminine inequality [hadaras nashim], while in this new government, there are hardly any women party representatives, and apparently, they are being discriminated without any relationship to chareidim. Habayit Hayehudi does not have any women representatives. In Yesh Atid, there is one woman minister, as goes for Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu.
He later strongly attacked the Bayit Hayehudi faction, telling that he had once said to gedolei HaTorah that "there are two groups in the National Religious community: one is close to the secular population while the other boasts yeshivos where Torah is studied very seriously, are not connected to hesder and they realize that the world stands on Torah study. Now I wish to beg forgiveness from those gedolim for a misrepresentation. [I now see that] All the members of Habayit Hayehudi are the same. There is no difference amongst the religious Zionists, whether they have regular yeshivos or not. They are closer to Yair Lapid than to us. They have found a common denominator with Lapid and Yesh Atid and not with us in matters that are cardinal to an observant Jew. Apparently, their weltanshauung approaches theirs."
He also said that he studied the coalition agreement and "I didn't find anything like it in any democratic country in the whole Western world. They take a considerable segment of the population and trample it, clause after clause. In a country with such imminent threats from Syria and Iran, must an avreich be forced to pay National Insurance as if he were employed and earning a salary? This is discriminatory and negates the law, so that it cannot pass. You don't begin to understand this. The motive is hatred, as expressed by this clause. Or take the clause denying support to yeshivas for their students from abroad. These students line the coffers of the country with foreign funds, which is worth gold, as all economists know. And to go and take a group of students who are financially deprived to begin with, in a country surrounded by enemies and dangers, and to build a government on the very premise of harming the chareidim!
"An Arab terrorist released from jail gets a break in municipal taxes if he has low income but you insist that an avreich be denied that reduction. This won't pass either because it negates the founding principles of this state. You can't tamper with civil rights but are nevertheless determined to strike out at the chareidim whom we believe maintain the world through their Torah study, and have done so ever since the inception of Jewish nationhood and the giving of the Torah at Sinai."
He concluded with these words: "I appeal to Hashem and say: those who seek to inflict harm through their coalition agreement do not represent the Jewish people but only self- serving parties. We intend to be a full fledged opposition in face of the declaration of this new government that one who studies Torah is to be considered a criminal."
Rabbi Yaakov Litzman similarly harshly criticized the new government, going up to speak with his hat prominently perched on his head, saying that he wishes to thank those who allowed him the floor even though he has a beard, payos and a hat. "The day will come, however, in view of this present government, that we will not be allowed to speak and will be altogether disenfranchised. This is the picture according to the state of affairs today, and no one speaks up in protest.
"The representatives of the UTJ party will be here as loyal emissaries to prevent the animosity of those in power to succeed in carrying out their evil designs."
He added, "This is the first time in Israel and amongst the Jewish nation that a Jewish government ups and declares: no more chareidim, no more religion amongst Jewry, no Torah world, no bnei yeshivos, no large families, no mitzvah- observance, no Halachah, no rabbonim and gedolei Yisroel. This is a disgrace, an infamy. And what does the government say: `yes' to ban them, `yes' to fraternal hatred, `yes' to dissension and polarization, `yes' to a schism within the nation."
