Coalition party leaders' meeting canceled after Haredi boycott
Haredi officials Deri, Gafni and recently resigned Litzman skip meeting, leading PM Netanyahu to cancel and set individual meetings with party leaders, before convening them later in the week.
The weekly coalition party leaders' meeting was canceled on Sunday after it was boycotted by the heads of the Haredi factions—Shas leader Aryeh Deri United Torah Judaism leaders: newly resigned Health Minister Yaakov Litzman (of the larger, Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction) and MK Moshe Gafni (of the smaller, Lithuanian Degel HaTorah faction).
Deri, Gafni and Litzman decided to boycott the party leaders' meeting after Litzman resigned his post as health minister over government-sanctioned train works done on Shabbat. Deri also boycotted the government meeting held earlier in the day.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to cancel the meeting for the first time since the 34th government was sworn in. Instead, he plans to meet with each of the party leaders separately in the coming days and only then convene the coalition leaders' meeting.
Acting at the behest of his leader, Hasidic Ger Rebbe Yaakov Aryeh Alter, Litzman said Sunday the train work "goes against Halacha and the status quo," and he is therefore left with no choice but to resign.
"Throughout the generations, we knew we were protected by Shabbat, we knew it was the root of the covenant between the people of Israel and G-d. Unfortunately, Israel Railways has recently made Shabbat into 'National Renovation Day': they needlessly do all their renovations on Shabbat," he said.
