Degel HaTorah's two MKs, Avraham Ravitz and Moshe Gafni, informed the Knesset House Committee on Tuesday that they had decided to break off from the parent party.
Both factions will remain in the government coalition they joined just several days ago.
The decision to split came after Ravitz and Gafni accused Agudah MK Yaakov Litzman of defying the decision by the Council of Torah Sages regarding the party's entry into the coalition. Council leader Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv had said that the party should enter on a trial basis for three months, and should not assume any coalition positions during that time. Litzman, however, saying that his rabbis had instructed him otherwise, assumed the Chairmanship of the Knesset Finance Committee. The two Degel MKs, representing the non-Hassidic sector of the party, quit the party in protest.
MK Ravitz explained to Arutz-7 last night that the party's decision to join the coalition has caused some tensions: "I hope that they [Agudah] will return to us, because as it is, we have already lost many votes. The Yesha residents expected us to vote against the government, although MK Porush [of Agudah] abstained. The next elections won't be easy..."
Both factions will remain in the government coalition they joined just several days ago.
The decision to split came after Ravitz and Gafni accused Agudah MK Yaakov Litzman of defying the decision by the Council of Torah Sages regarding the party's entry into the coalition. Council leader Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv had said that the party should enter on a trial basis for three months, and should not assume any coalition positions during that time. Litzman, however, saying that his rabbis had instructed him otherwise, assumed the Chairmanship of the Knesset Finance Committee. The two Degel MKs, representing the non-Hassidic sector of the party, quit the party in protest.
MK Avraham Ravitz