Housing Minister Haim Katz announced that Moti Babchik, the head of the ministry's staff, will end his role. This was stated in an announcement from Katz's office, after the senior Haredi official harshly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Babchik was a close advisor to former Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, and is considered a powerful figure in the Agudat Yisrael party. "No one will be able to silence the truth!" Babchik said in response to his dismissal. "Netanyahu should only blame the Ahitophel advisors who explained to him how to deceive the Torah sages."

