In light of an arrangement worked out between ministers of the Sephardic-religious Shas Party and Prime Minister Olmert's aides, the Cabinet will vote on Sunday to approve the re-creation of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. This, despite the vociferous objections of the Yisrael Beiteinu and Labor factions.
At present, Minister Yitzchak Cohen of Shas is responsible for most day-to-day religious-affairs issues, such as the functioning of the Religious Councils around the country. However, as a Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, he is not authorized to have the final word on most decisions, and Prime Minister Olmert's signature is generally required. "This makes it difficult to operate," Cohen said. "In order to solve major issues such as the Religious Council salaries' problem, we need to work more effectively - with a full-fledged ministry."
Ministers of the Yisrael Beiteinu and Labor parties expressed bitter opposition to the idea, and promised to vote against it on Sunday.
Tourism Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beiteinu) said, "The ministry exists for all intents and purposes in the Prime Minister's Office, and nothing has happened to necessitate its rebuilding independently."
Labor's Ophir Pines, who is no longer a Cabinet minister - he resigned in October 2006 when Yisrael Beiteinu joined the coalition - said he would demand that his faction's ministers vote against the proposal on Sunday. "Re-opening the Ministry of Religions is a political crime," he said. "Olmert's purpose is simply to have a mechanism that will allow him to pass gifts to the religious [MKs] in order to maintain his coalition. Olmert is trying to do to the State what he did in Jerusalem [when he was its mayor - ed.], i.e., to keep power by currying favor with the religious."
Ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon closed down the Ministry of Religious Affairs in late 2002, as a result of heavy political pressure by the now-defunct rabidly anti-hareidi Shinui party.
Levy Against Rebuilding
Former Religious Affairs Minister Rabbi Yitzchak Levy, now an opposition MK of the National Union party, is also against the reconstructing the ministry. He said the idea is meant only to butter up Shas "with jobs at the expense of budgeting religious services for citizens. We can have a true reform in this area without a new ministry. Olmert should rather use the money towards paying religious council salaries, rather than establishing a new ministry."
Rabbi Levy told Arutz-7 last week that he prepared a comprehensive plan to solve the Religious Council salary problems, "and it begins with cutting down the number of such councils significantly. There is no reason why very small towns need their own religious council."
Tzfat Follows Lod in Burial Hold-Up
In Tzfat, religious council workers refused to bury a man who died on Wednesday, following a similar move by their colleagues in Lod last month. The man was finally buried last night, after the municipality - which is only partially responsible for the crisis - agreed to pay the salaries immediately.
Employees in 37 religious councils around the country have not been paid for between one and six months, and the Histadrut Labor Union has declared a work dispute. This means that if the issue is not solved within two weeks, the Histadrut can call a general strike throughout the country.