Kippa-wearing Yesh Atid candidate endorses Shabbat public transport

Elazar Stern said it was his decision to leave Tzipi Livni's Hatnua party, not hers.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Elazar Stern (left) and Yair Lapid, January 18, 2015 (photo credit: COURTESY, YESH ATID)
Elazar Stern (left) and Yair Lapid, January 18, 2015
(photo credit: COURTESY, YESH ATID)
Orthodox MK Elazar Stern adopted Yesh Atid's party line on allowing public transportation on Shabbat at a Tel Aviv press conference with party leader Yair Lapid Sunday in which he announced he was joining the party.
Stern was in Tzipi Livni's Hatnua in the last Knesset. He said it was his decision, not hers, that he would not remain in the party.
"Last Knesset, people on the street assumed I was in Yesh Atid, and I saw it as a compliment," Stern said.
Lapid said he saw Stern as the 20th Yesh Atid MK in the last Knesset. They cooperated on legislation on drafting haredim (ultra-Orthodox), conversion, and helping Holocaust survivors."
Asked whether he backed gay marriage, Stern said he was in favor of gay couples forming a family like any other couples, but he would not push rabbis to marry them.
Lapid will reveal the order of his Knesset list on January 26.