The United Torah Judaism party appears close to leaving the government coalition. Its two deputy ministers - Avraham Ravitz of Education and Meir Porush in Housing - have never returned to their positions since the firing of the Shas ministers almost six weeks ago [see below], and Ravitz told Arutz-7\'s Yosef Zalmanson today, \"I feel much more out of the coalition than in...\"
A Ravitz aide explained today that in the afore-mentioned incident, \"Prime Minister Sharon fired everyone who voted against that budget-cutting package - not only Shas, but also the two UTJ deputy ministers as well. The difference is that although Shas came crawling back, we didn\'t. Our rabbinic authorities, such as Rabbi Elyashiv, said that since we have some issues that have not yet been resolved, we have nothing to rush back for, and that we should try to get them solved now. The problem is, however, that although MK Ravitz has asked for a meeting with Finance Minister Shalom, he has been pushed off several times - including yesterday, when he postponed the meeting not for a day or two, but for ten days!\"
The unresolved issues include the financing of an already agreed-upon recovery program for the party\'s nursery school system, involving 12,000 children.
A Ravitz aide explained today that in the afore-mentioned incident, \"Prime Minister Sharon fired everyone who voted against that budget-cutting package - not only Shas, but also the two UTJ deputy ministers as well. The difference is that although Shas came crawling back, we didn\'t. Our rabbinic authorities, such as Rabbi Elyashiv, said that since we have some issues that have not yet been resolved, we have nothing to rush back for, and that we should try to get them solved now. The problem is, however, that although MK Ravitz has asked for a meeting with Finance Minister Shalom, he has been pushed off several times - including yesterday, when he postponed the meeting not for a day or two, but for ten days!\"
The unresolved issues include the financing of an already agreed-upon recovery program for the party\'s nursery school system, involving 12,000 children.