The National Religious Party and the National Union Knesset factions, both members of the coalition government, did not vote against yesterday's no-confidence motion in the government submitted by the Shas Party. Instead, they absented themselves from the vote, in protest of the continuing failure of the government to properly fund religious services in Israel.
Shas had submitted the motion because of the ongoing suffering of the religious sectors, including their institutions and services, due to the lack of funding.
Arutz-7's Knesset correspondent Haggai Seri-Levy reports that MK Uri Ariel, the National Union's representative in the Knesset Finance Committee, said that until the problem is solved, he will vote against the government in the committee sessions.
MKs of the opposition religious parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, held up the Knesset proceedings last week for 20 minutes, in protest of the lack of funding. Shas faction leader MK Eli Yeshai said that such activities will continue. Several rabbis attended yesterday's vote at Yeshai's invitation, but their presence did not stop the motion from being defeated, 49-45.
MKs of Shas, UTJ, and Tekumah (a faction of the National Union) said that they will also disrupt the meetings of various Knesset committees, organize protests and rallies around the country, and take other steps to end what Minister Zevulun Orlev (NRP) called "the danger to the existence of religious services." Municipal rabbis and other workers have not received salaries for months, and endangered services include mikvaot (ritual baths), marriage registration, and burial services.
Shas had submitted the motion because of the ongoing suffering of the religious sectors, including their institutions and services, due to the lack of funding.
Arutz-7's Knesset correspondent Haggai Seri-Levy reports that MK Uri Ariel, the National Union's representative in the Knesset Finance Committee, said that until the problem is solved, he will vote against the government in the committee sessions.
MKs of the opposition religious parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, held up the Knesset proceedings last week for 20 minutes, in protest of the lack of funding. Shas faction leader MK Eli Yeshai said that such activities will continue. Several rabbis attended yesterday's vote at Yeshai's invitation, but their presence did not stop the motion from being defeated, 49-45.
MKs of Shas, UTJ, and Tekumah (a faction of the National Union) said that they will also disrupt the meetings of various Knesset committees, organize protests and rallies around the country, and take other steps to end what Minister Zevulun Orlev (NRP) called "the danger to the existence of religious services." Municipal rabbis and other workers have not received salaries for months, and endangered services include mikvaot (ritual baths), marriage registration, and burial services.