Shas ask PM to sign treaty to protect the status quo

Party calls on Netanyahu to clarify position on safeguarding the Jewish nature of Israel ahead of election.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Shas election banner 370 (photo credit: Baz Ratner / Reuters)
Shas election banner 370
(photo credit: Baz Ratner / Reuters)
The three leaders of the Shas party, Arye Deri, Eli Yishai and Ariel Attias, called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to sign a treaty to safeguard the Jewish nature of the State of Israel in a letter sent to the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
The party asked the prime minister to sign the treaty in order to clarify his position on the topic and show his commitment both to them and to the voters ahead of the January 22 election.
Shas said the merger between Likud and Yisrael Beytenu, who hold "opposite values," to those of Likud regarding the safeguarding of the Jewish nature of Israel, was among the reasons for the call on Netanyahu to sign the treaty.
In the event that Netanyahu forms a "left-wing coalition" with Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid and the Tzipi Livni Party, Shas said such a coalition would change the country socially, as well as religiously.
Shas, that said it would recommend Likud chairman and current Prime Minister Netanyahu as the next prime minister following the election, said it was concerned with the political direction the Likud party was heading in.
"The social and religious destruction that the Likud-Lapid 2003 government brought on Israel has not been forgotten," Shas said in a statement.
The thirtieth government of Israel led by Ariel Sharon's Likud, Labor, and Yair Lapid's father Yosef "Tommy" Lapid's party Shinui from February 2003 till May 2006, left Shas in the opposition.
 
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The party said it fears recent moves made by left-wing parties, and the conduct of the Likud Beytenu party, will lead to a similar government. "This is why we demand the prime minister to clarify his position on topics that are the very soul of the Jewish nation, before the election."
The treaty includes four main principles as the basis to "maintaining the existence of the State of Israel as the Jewish nation's state."
The treaty calls to protect the secular-religious status quo, to prevent legislation that contradicts Halacha laws and would allow quick conversion to Judaism, to prevent regulation of civil marriage that would "enable intermarriage of Jews with non-Jews," and to prevent the operation of public transportation on Shabbat.