“At the end of the war, [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu will be forced to go to elections within 90 days,” Labor Minister Yoav Ben Tzur (Shas) told Maariv on Thursday.
“[An election] will be before an investigative committee of one kind or another. This is my opinion. The prime minister himself will initiate the elections. We cannot continue like this any longer. The public will have its say and then we will see if Netanyahu receives the mandate.
“Decency requires that after such a terrible event, the public must have its say. The government will not be able to continue functioning in the current situation. Everyone takes responsibility for what happened. I, as a minister in the government, also take responsibility.”
Regarding his position in the heated debate on the issue of coalition funds, he added that “the coalition funds are intended to equalize the conditions of Torah education to the state network of schools. After many years, it was decided to implement the Ofek Hadash reform (an educational reform plan) here as well.
“In the Shas Maayan HaHinuch network, we are talking about the allocation of NIS 150 million (out of 300 million shekels), and in total, we are talking about NIS 1.1 billion shekels, including 2024. I don’t understand why they call it coalition money. The payment had to be part of the base of the budget.”
‘Haredim who think they can contribute should enlist’
Ben Tzur additionally spoke about the increase in ultra-Orthodox Jews choosing to enlist in the IDF in light of the war, saying “A haredi person who thinks he can contribute to the army in places he can afford to, let him enlist. I’m not talking about those who sit down to study the Torah, who contribute in their way to the salvation of the people of Israel. But I’m against the phenomenon of people just sitting around doing nothing.”
“The war brought about a change in the attitudes of the ultra-orthodox public and the general public. Look at the size of the division that was a month and a half ago and what is happening now in the people of Israel. This is an extraordinary mobilization that symbolizes the true character of the people. What was in the past is dead and I hope that we can maintain unity in the future as well.”
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