Shas chairman MK Arye Deri is reportedly furious with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the latter ended a political saga that began on Sunday by deciding to drop a controversial bill that Deri was pushing for, due to opposition to the bill from within the governing coalition.
The announcement that the bill would be dropped from the Knesset’s agenda came at approximately 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday. The decision came after the prime minister held consultations with Coalition Whip MK Ofir Katz (Likud) The decision was likely a result of both pressure from Likud mayors who opposed the bill and the fact that a majority for the bill to proceed in the Knesset Constitution Committee was not guaranteed after two Likud MKs and an MK from Otzma Yehudit refused to support it.
According to Yisrael Hayom, Deri was furious with Netanyahu and, on a phone call late Tuesday night, accused the prime minister of being unable to apply discipline in his party. Several senior coalition members were quoted in various reports as saying this was a real political crisis that could destabilize the coalition.
The bill proposal was to give Israel’s Chief Rabbinate and Religious Affairs Ministry control over appointments of government-paid municipal and neighborhood rabbis, instead of the current system where the cities themselves have the power to appoint their rabbis. The bill is widely viewed as an attempt by the coalition’s orthodox parties, especially the haredi Shas party, to appoint its own members to the position, as well as gain influence over issues of religion in state, even in secular areas.
Criticism of proposed bill came from all angles
Criticism of the bill by both the opposition and coalition focused on two points: First, the fact that the bill is politically motivated and intended to grant lucrative jobs to political allies, and second, that it takes the power to appoint rabbis who are appropriate to the specific character of each city and neighborhoods away from mayors and local authority leaders, and gives it to the national government.
A source from Shas said on Tuesday, the party’s chairman MK Arye Deri was determined to pass the bill both because of its importance to him, and as a statement to the coalition that the Likud must be committed to coalition discipline, or else the coalition will dissolve.
The decision to drop the bill came after a series of political moves and accusations between the Likud, Shas, and Otzma Yehudit.
The coalition enjoys a 9-7 majority in the Knesset Constitution Committee, in which the bill was set to be put to a vote. However, two Likud MKs, Tally Gotliv and Moshe Sa’ada, announced earlier this week that they would vote against the bill, thus removing the coalition’s majority. On Tuesday, Katz removed Gotliv and Sa’ada as committee members in favor of two other Likud MKs who were expected to vote “yes.” However, the sole member of Otzma Yehudit in the committee, Mk Yizhak Kroyzer, also stated that he would vote “no,” meaning that the vote would have resulted in an 8-8 tie and failed.
Otzma Yehudit on Tuesday accused the Likud and Shas of attempting to cut a deal with the two representatives of the Arab parties in the committee, MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash Ta’al) and MK Mansour Abbas (Ra’am), to abstain from the vote and enable it to pass. Shas denied the claim, and the two coalition parties traded barbs publicly on Tuesday evening.
