Meir Porush
Meir PorushHezki Ezra

Deputy Education Minister, MK Meir Porush (UTJ), handed his resignation as a Member of Knesset to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Sunday afternoon.

The haredi lawmaker's departure from the Knesset was carried out as per the recently passed "Norwegian Law," by which government ministers can step down as MKs to enable other members of the party to fill their place in the Knesset.

Porush - a member of UTJ's hassidic Agudat Yisrael faction - will be replaced by former UTJ MK Yaakov Asher, from the UTJ's Lithuanian-Ashkenazic "Degel HaTorah" faction.

His resignation ended months of infighting within the UTJ party, during which Degel HaTorah members protested the unequal distribution of seats within the party, and demanding that one member of Agudat Yisrael - either Porush or Health Minister Yaakov Litzman - be replaced with one of their own.