MK Ya'akov Litzman
MK Ya'akov LitzmanIsrael news photo: Flash 90

MK Yaakov Litzman of the hareidi-religious Yahadut Hatorah party harshly criticized Finance Minister Yair Lapid in a speech Tuesday evening at an event hosted by the hareidi-religious paper Hamodia.

“He doesn’t understand anything about economics. He only understands one thing – hareidim,” Litzman accused.

He ridiculed Lapid’s demand that hareidi-religious men served in the army. During his own army service, he noted, Lapid worked as a writer for Galei Tzahal, the army’s radio station.

“A writer for Hamodia – what’s the difference?” he joked.

He accused Lapid of a double standard in deciding which past government decisions to uphold. Lapid recently excused an increase in the tax on alcohol by claiming that it was not his idea, but rather, a decision passed by previous Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.

“Where did continuity of rule go when you dared to cancel the expansion of the dental care reform to include free dental care until age 14, which had already been approved in a signed agreement with the Finance Ministry?” he demanded. “Is continuity important only when it comes to raising citizens’ taxes?”

“The government approved giving free dental care until age 14. It was a signed agreement. And here comes the Finance Minister and flagrantly violates a legal, signed agreements, hurts all of our children, and still talks with his smooth tongue about continuity of rule, about agreements which must be honored.

“To take from citizens’ pockets and lie to their face at the same time… ?” Litzman said.

He criticized Minister of Economics Naftali Bennett, the head of the Bayit Yehudi party, as well. “Bennett and the Prime Minister are standing by quietly, we won’t forgive this… What matters to Bennett is that the hesder yeshivas get their money from the Defense Ministry,” he accused.

He continued his criticism of the plan to grant hesder yeshivas funding through the Defense Ministry. “I am announcing here and now that I will take this to the Supreme Court. There can be no double funding,” he declared.