Netanyahu and Litzman
Netanyahu and LitzmanAbir Sultan, Flash 90

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) on Sunday night announced his party will insist prior to elections on a government budget that includes ten percent of public housing being allocated to the haredi community, including housing in the framework of the Mechir Lamishtaken program aimed at those who do not own their own homes.

"The United Torah Judaism party insists the government allocate 10|% of current public building projects, some of which are in the framework of Mechir Lamishtaken, to the haredi community. So if for example 17,000 housing units are being built right now in Kiryat Gat, 1,700 of them should be appropriated for haredim," explained Litzman in an interview with Kol Barama Radio.

Litzman claims this provision was included in the coalition agreement.

"In the coalition agreement, there's a section discussing this exact topic. What bothers us is they did the Mechir Lamishtaken project, and anyone can sign up and possibly win an apartment. So any non-observant person can buy an apartment in a haredi neighborhood, and we don't want that. We don't want to end up in a situation where it's Kiryat Yovel number 2," he said, referring to the tensions in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood of Jerusalem between haredi newcomers and the existing secular population.

Litzman added, "There needs to be some kind of religious filtering when they open the registration. We're Gur hasidim, just a year ago we built apartments and sold them for 333,000 shekels in the northern town of Hatzor HaGlilit, and I'm willing to build apartments for 400,000 shekels. Tomorrow we'll talk with all the haredi parties and decide on a joint political position to present to the government."

In the interview, Litzman spoke about the storm regarding the establishment of the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation.

"I don't understand what Netanyahu wants this time, or what he wants to do about the IPBC. I don't know if this was part of a coalition agreement. I asked him how much it would cost, I'm not willing for the Health Ministry to suffer cuts because they're getting rid of the [current] Broadcasting Corporation."

He also added that the haredim gain nothing from the Broadcasting Corporation, but that Shas had not spoken with UTJ on the topic.

"Deri did not speak with me when he announced his support for the Broadcasting Corporation," Litzman concluded.