Degal HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni strongly criticized United Torah Judaism (UTJ) chairman MK Yitzhak Goldknopf for agreeing to join the political-security cabinet.
"To make this decision alone, to take a spot on the political-security cabinet, is something that has never happened in the United Torah Judaism party since the establishment of the State," Gafni said in a briefing for haredi journalists which was reported by Channel 12 News reporter Yair Sherki. "I don't understand this at all. What happened all of a sudden that they signed an agreement without talking to us? Couldn't Goldknopf pick up a phone?"
Gafni noted that the agreement with the Likud party did not include clauses on the issue of housing which the Degel HaTorah and Agudath Yisrael factions of UTJ had agreed upon, and accused his partners of acting in an "unfriendly" manner.
Gafni added that the Degel HaTorah party would now reconsider its partnership with Agudath Yisrael under the rubric of the UTJ party.