Haredim unlikely to compromise on religion and state political issues

The chances of the ultra-Orthodox parties compromising on key issues such as civil marriage, Jewish conversion and public transportation on Shabbat are slim, despite reports that United Torah Judaism and Shas were willing to be flexible on the issues. Earlier in the day, Likud faction head Miki Zohar said that the ultra-Orthodox factions would need to compromise on religion and state issues to entice back Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman to the right-wing bloc to form a government. During a meeting of the bloc of 55 right-wing MKs on Monday, however, UTJ chairman and Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman and fellow senior UTJ MK Moshe Gafni both rejected the possibility of the ultra-Orthodox parties demonstrating flexibility. “We received a lot of preaching today that we need to be flexible,” said Litzman, seemingly in reference to Zohar’s earlier comments. He added that Liberman’s demands on religion and state matters were against the foundation of UTJ’s principles. “How can you ask us to be flexible on all these fundamental things to us and to Judaism?” Litzman demanded. Gafni added that “there is no change in our stance, we are going only with Likud and [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. We don’t like this discussion of compromises on religion and state.” An earlier Ynet report suggested that the ultra-Orthodox parties could be willing to compromise on matters of public policy such as enlistment to the IDF, the Western Wall agreement and even public transportation, although they would remain firm on matters that would have an impact on the general Jewish population. A senior UTJ source told The Jerusalem Post later on Monday that there was little chance of such flexibility on behalf of the ultra-Orthodox party because all such matters ultimately involve Jewish law, and that UTJ could not compromise on such fundamental issues. A senior Shas source made similar comments.Source