Adviser to the Health Minister, Mordechai Babchik, responded on Army Radio to a report on Channel 12 News which alleged that Health Minister Yaakov Litzman prayed in a synagogue on a recent Shabbat, in contravention of the Ministry's guidelines.
"He did not contravene the guidelines," the adviser said. "He did not pray in a synagogue. He prayed on his neighbor's porch, at a point when prayer in this manner was still permitted."
Only several days later did the government decided to ban all public prayer including in open spaces.