Tourism Minister Benny Elon, a rabbi and former Yeshiva head, is also up in arms against the decision to transfer the Rabbinical Courts to the Justice Ministry. Elon told Arutz-7 today,
"[Justice Minister] Tommy Lapid is acting as if this is a personal issue, as if we are fighting against him personally. He even told my colleagues and I that we are like anti-Semites... This is nonsense. Just as he said about [the Sephardic-hareidi party] Shas: he refuses to sit with them in the same government not because he is against them personally, but politically. The point is that just as I want to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, and therefore do not expect to be appointed the ministerial liaison between the government and the PA, so too Lapid, who is not exactly a fan of the Religious Affairs Ministry or the Rabbinical Courts, should not be insulted if there are objections to having him oversee them... Just tell someone on the street that Tommy Lapid is the minister in charge of religious affairs, and he would laugh..."
Elon specified that he does not oppose the dismantling of the Religious Affairs Ministry per se, and also clarified that he would not resign from the government over this issue.
MK Sha'ul Yahalom (NRP) said that Sharon does not treat the NRP with much respect: "The fact is that Shinui has 15 Knesset Members, while the NRP has only 6..." He said that one of the main issues for the NRP regarding the Rabbinical Courts is who will appoint the judges, and from which political/religious stream they will come: "We know that Lapid is not interested in a thriving rabbinical court system, and he doesn't even want it at all; we will not allow him to take the system and decimate it."
Asked if possibly Lapid simply wishes to make it more efficient such that even the religious public will gain from it, Yahalom said, "If that was his intention, fine. But we know his true goal..." Yahalom said that if there were a Justice Minister who was not so strongly anti-religious, or who would not intervene in the appointment of judges just as he does not in the secular court system, "it could very well be that we wouldn't mind having the Rabbinical Courts come under the Justice Ministry. But not under Lapid."
Anat Hoffman, head of the Center for Jewish Pluralism, welcomed the new developments. She said that the Rabbinical Courts are not run well, citing "lost files, long lines, short hours, bad attitudes," and more. "If, in the end, women can come through a Rabbinical Court case with a good feeling, the Rabbinical Courts will only gain from this move," she said.
"[Justice Minister] Tommy Lapid is acting as if this is a personal issue, as if we are fighting against him personally. He even told my colleagues and I that we are like anti-Semites... This is nonsense. Just as he said about [the Sephardic-hareidi party] Shas: he refuses to sit with them in the same government not because he is against them personally, but politically. The point is that just as I want to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, and therefore do not expect to be appointed the ministerial liaison between the government and the PA, so too Lapid, who is not exactly a fan of the Religious Affairs Ministry or the Rabbinical Courts, should not be insulted if there are objections to having him oversee them... Just tell someone on the street that Tommy Lapid is the minister in charge of religious affairs, and he would laugh..."
Elon specified that he does not oppose the dismantling of the Religious Affairs Ministry per se, and also clarified that he would not resign from the government over this issue.
MK Sha'ul Yahalom (NRP) said that Sharon does not treat the NRP with much respect: "The fact is that Shinui has 15 Knesset Members, while the NRP has only 6..." He said that one of the main issues for the NRP regarding the Rabbinical Courts is who will appoint the judges, and from which political/religious stream they will come: "We know that Lapid is not interested in a thriving rabbinical court system, and he doesn't even want it at all; we will not allow him to take the system and decimate it."
Asked if possibly Lapid simply wishes to make it more efficient such that even the religious public will gain from it, Yahalom said, "If that was his intention, fine. But we know his true goal..." Yahalom said that if there were a Justice Minister who was not so strongly anti-religious, or who would not intervene in the appointment of judges just as he does not in the secular court system, "it could very well be that we wouldn't mind having the Rabbinical Courts come under the Justice Ministry. But not under Lapid."
Anat Hoffman, head of the Center for Jewish Pluralism, welcomed the new developments. She said that the Rabbinical Courts are not run well, citing "lost files, long lines, short hours, bad attitudes," and more. "If, in the end, women can come through a Rabbinical Court case with a good feeling, the Rabbinical Courts will only gain from this move," she said.