Three new ministers have agred to join the government today: Effie Eitam and Rabbi Yitzchak Levy of the National Religious Party, and David Levy of Gesher. The Knesset will hold a special mid-recess session tomorrow at which the new ministers will be approved.
The National Religious Party Central Committee ratified the double decision today to join the government and replace Rabbi Yitzchak Levy as party head with Brig.-Gen. (res.) Effie Eitam. The party membership anticipates that the well-known and charismatic Eitam will be able to rejuvenate the party, which dropped from nine Knesset mandates to five in the last national election three years ago. Rabbi Levy explained to Arutz-7 today why the party is now joining the government: \"What changed is that we are now at war, 30,000 soldiers have been called up, and the government is finally doing what it should be doing. It\'s not enough for us to support it from the outside, because we see that Knesset influence on the government is zero, and even the government ministers themselves don\'t have that much influence - but the security cabinet has some influence, and that\'s why we insisted that both of us, Effie Eitam and I, become members of this cabinet.\" Levy will have observer status in this body.
The Gesher party will also join the government, and MK David Levy - who has served as Foreign Minister three times in the past - will, like Eitam and Rabbi Levy, also be a minister without portfolio. In the event that Labor quits the coalition - which is appearing more and more likely - Levy will receive a \"senior\" portfolio.
The quick changes that the NRP have undergone were not greeted with satisfaction by the entire Central Committee. Long-time secretariat members Eliezer Shefer told Arutz-7, \"I have always said that the essence of the NRP is that we must join the government, we must take share the responsibility for running the country.\" However, regarding Effie Eitam, \"in our 100 years of Religious Zionism, we have always symbolized the middle of the map, and within our movement also there are many streams; the man who stands at the head of the party must be one who can unite all of them. That is how it has always been. I\'m not sure that Effie Eitam, who is admittedly very talented and should be among the top brass in the NRP [but who is known for his hawkish views - ed.], can fulfill this condition...\"
Atty. Elyakim HaEtzni of Kiryat Arba, fairly hawkish himself, asked if it was too much to ask of the NRP - \"or of the National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu, who also appear to be on their way back into the government\" - to make two demands in exchange for their joining the Sharon government: \"One is that President Bush said that the Israeli government agreed to a Palestinian state - which is not true. Is it too much too ask that the NRP insist that Sharon, in his speech in the Knesset tomorrow, no longer be silent, and correct this mistake? And two - Joseph\'s Tomb. Should we allow the Arabs to have \'murdered and also inherited\'? After we so disgracefully left there 18 months ago, should we now of our own volition give it away once again?\"
The National Religious Party Central Committee ratified the double decision today to join the government and replace Rabbi Yitzchak Levy as party head with Brig.-Gen. (res.) Effie Eitam. The party membership anticipates that the well-known and charismatic Eitam will be able to rejuvenate the party, which dropped from nine Knesset mandates to five in the last national election three years ago. Rabbi Levy explained to Arutz-7 today why the party is now joining the government: \"What changed is that we are now at war, 30,000 soldiers have been called up, and the government is finally doing what it should be doing. It\'s not enough for us to support it from the outside, because we see that Knesset influence on the government is zero, and even the government ministers themselves don\'t have that much influence - but the security cabinet has some influence, and that\'s why we insisted that both of us, Effie Eitam and I, become members of this cabinet.\" Levy will have observer status in this body.
The Gesher party will also join the government, and MK David Levy - who has served as Foreign Minister three times in the past - will, like Eitam and Rabbi Levy, also be a minister without portfolio. In the event that Labor quits the coalition - which is appearing more and more likely - Levy will receive a \"senior\" portfolio.
The quick changes that the NRP have undergone were not greeted with satisfaction by the entire Central Committee. Long-time secretariat members Eliezer Shefer told Arutz-7, \"I have always said that the essence of the NRP is that we must join the government, we must take share the responsibility for running the country.\" However, regarding Effie Eitam, \"in our 100 years of Religious Zionism, we have always symbolized the middle of the map, and within our movement also there are many streams; the man who stands at the head of the party must be one who can unite all of them. That is how it has always been. I\'m not sure that Effie Eitam, who is admittedly very talented and should be among the top brass in the NRP [but who is known for his hawkish views - ed.], can fulfill this condition...\"
Atty. Elyakim HaEtzni of Kiryat Arba, fairly hawkish himself, asked if it was too much to ask of the NRP - \"or of the National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu, who also appear to be on their way back into the government\" - to make two demands in exchange for their joining the Sharon government: \"One is that President Bush said that the Israeli government agreed to a Palestinian state - which is not true. Is it too much too ask that the NRP insist that Sharon, in his speech in the Knesset tomorrow, no longer be silent, and correct this mistake? And two - Joseph\'s Tomb. Should we allow the Arabs to have \'murdered and also inherited\'? After we so disgracefully left there 18 months ago, should we now of our own volition give it away once again?\"