As of early this afternoon, it appeared that the Shas party was anxious to get down off the tall ladder it had climbed and find a way to partially support the proposed budget cuts. One Shas MK even said that he feels like someone who climbed a tall tower and then looked down and saw there was nothing holding it up. Shas leaders said they were in contact this morning with representatives of the Prime Minister\'s office. Prime Minister Sharon, known for his strong nerves, has ordered his staffers not to return phone calls from Shas, and his office has made it clear that he has no intention of retracting the dismissals. Still and all, it is widely assumed that negotiations leading to a compromise will be held, and that Sharon merely wants to teach Shas a lesson. If nothing changes, the ministerial dismissals will go into effect tomorrow night.
To review:
Israel\'s economy and political framework were thrown into turmoil last night after a critical budget-cutting bill failed to pass in the Knesset - and Prime Minister Sharon then fired four government ministers who had voted against the bill. The defeat of a 13-billion shekel budget cut that Sharon and Finance Minister Silvan Shalom had been preparing for the last few months surprised most observers and even the Knesset itself.
The vote was 47-44, and among the nay-sayers were all the MKs of Shas and United Torah Judaism present in the chamber, and even one Labor MK. Almost equally critical to the final tally was the number of Cabinet ministers and coalition MKs who did not show up for the vote. These included Education Minister Limor Livnat (Likud), in protest of the tremendous cuts in the Education Ministry that would lead to the firing of thousands of teachers; Deputy Minister Gideon Ezra (Likud); Minister Dalia Itzik (Labor); Deputy Minister Rabin-Pilosof (Labor); many other Labor MKs; and several MKs from the NRP and the Center Party. Education Committee Chairman Zevulun Orlev (NRP) abstained, in solidarity with Education Minister Livnat. The coalition also suffered some technical and logistical problems, such as two votes that didn’t get counted and gentlemen\'s agreements to offset contrasting votes that were not carried out. Coalition whip MK Ze\'ev Boim (Likud) took full responsibility for the defeat, but he also blamed several MKs for \"acting like children\" and not showing up. After another vote today approving the submission of the proposals for a re-vote (see below), Boim joked, \"This time we were ready with calculators, speed-courses in addition and particularly in subtraction [Hebrew for absence], and particularly equations with three and four unknowns [Hebrew for no-shows].\"
The defeat put Prime Minister Sharon and Finance Minister Shalom in a form of political shock, and in a meeting afterwards with Sharon-ally Communications Minister Ruby Rivlin, they quickly decided to punish Shas very severely. Sharon fired off letters of discharge to Shas\' four government ministers and to five deputy ministers - three from Shas and two from United Torah Judaism. The fired ministers are Interior Minister Eli Yeshai, Labor Minister Shlomo Benizri, Health Minister Eli Dahan, and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Eli Suissa. Shas also has a fifth minister, Asher Ohana of Religious Affairs, but he is not a Knesset Member and was not fired, although he will certainly not remain in the government without his party. If no compromise is reached, the ministerial firings will take effect tomorrow night, 48 hours after they were sent.
Shas ministers convened with their party leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef this morning. Rabbi Yosef expressed extreme hurt at Sharon\'s move, calling him \"ungrateful.\" He said that Shas had shown great loyalty to Sharon by backing him against Netanyahu early last year, thus leading to Sharon\'s election as Prime Minister. Rabbi Yosef said, however, that Shas should not shut the door on negotiations with Sharon.
To review:
Israel\'s economy and political framework were thrown into turmoil last night after a critical budget-cutting bill failed to pass in the Knesset - and Prime Minister Sharon then fired four government ministers who had voted against the bill. The defeat of a 13-billion shekel budget cut that Sharon and Finance Minister Silvan Shalom had been preparing for the last few months surprised most observers and even the Knesset itself.
The vote was 47-44, and among the nay-sayers were all the MKs of Shas and United Torah Judaism present in the chamber, and even one Labor MK. Almost equally critical to the final tally was the number of Cabinet ministers and coalition MKs who did not show up for the vote. These included Education Minister Limor Livnat (Likud), in protest of the tremendous cuts in the Education Ministry that would lead to the firing of thousands of teachers; Deputy Minister Gideon Ezra (Likud); Minister Dalia Itzik (Labor); Deputy Minister Rabin-Pilosof (Labor); many other Labor MKs; and several MKs from the NRP and the Center Party. Education Committee Chairman Zevulun Orlev (NRP) abstained, in solidarity with Education Minister Livnat. The coalition also suffered some technical and logistical problems, such as two votes that didn’t get counted and gentlemen\'s agreements to offset contrasting votes that were not carried out. Coalition whip MK Ze\'ev Boim (Likud) took full responsibility for the defeat, but he also blamed several MKs for \"acting like children\" and not showing up. After another vote today approving the submission of the proposals for a re-vote (see below), Boim joked, \"This time we were ready with calculators, speed-courses in addition and particularly in subtraction [Hebrew for absence], and particularly equations with three and four unknowns [Hebrew for no-shows].\"
The defeat put Prime Minister Sharon and Finance Minister Shalom in a form of political shock, and in a meeting afterwards with Sharon-ally Communications Minister Ruby Rivlin, they quickly decided to punish Shas very severely. Sharon fired off letters of discharge to Shas\' four government ministers and to five deputy ministers - three from Shas and two from United Torah Judaism. The fired ministers are Interior Minister Eli Yeshai, Labor Minister Shlomo Benizri, Health Minister Eli Dahan, and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Eli Suissa. Shas also has a fifth minister, Asher Ohana of Religious Affairs, but he is not a Knesset Member and was not fired, although he will certainly not remain in the government without his party. If no compromise is reached, the ministerial firings will take effect tomorrow night, 48 hours after they were sent.
Shas ministers convened with their party leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef this morning. Rabbi Yosef expressed extreme hurt at Sharon\'s move, calling him \"ungrateful.\" He said that Shas had shown great loyalty to Sharon by backing him against Netanyahu early last year, thus leading to Sharon\'s election as Prime Minister. Rabbi Yosef said, however, that Shas should not shut the door on negotiations with Sharon.