The leaders of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) political parties Shas and United Torah Judaism all issued rare criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu for violating Shabbat.
Shas leader Arye Deri and United Torah Judaism leaders Moshe Gafni and Ya'acov Litzman – who have all shared an unbreakable political alliance with Netanyahu for more than a decade – issued statements to the media late Saturday night chastising the former prime minister.
His sin was phoning Israeli gold-medal winning Olympian Linoy Ashram during the course of the day to congratulate her for her achievement, and then releasing a press statement about it.
As an extra dig at Netanyahu, both Gafni and Litzman praised President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for waiting till after Shabbat to issue their congratulations.
The haredi leaders seldom criticize the former prime minister publicly, and their statements might indicate the beginning of a stress in the alliance.
“The statement the head of the opposition, Netanyahu, issued during holy Shabbat offended the multitude of Shabbat-observant Jews and offended his faithful partners for whom Shabbat is very dear to their hearts,” said Deri.
“Mr. Netanyahu, Shabbat which forgives its honor, its honor is not relinquished.”
UTJ chairman Gafni said that the Olympic games were not a situation of a live-saving necessity, for which Shabbat can be violated, and that the head of the opposition was a state office and therefore Netanyahu should not have issued his statement.
“I am happy that the president and prime minister waited until the end of Shabbat, that is how Mr. Netanyahu should have acted,” said Litzman. “It is a very sad fact that head of the opposition, Netanyahu, did not think it was correct to wait till after Shabbat to praise the Olympic achievement in Tokyo, and chose to violate Shabbat in public, without any true need. It is expected of someone with a state office to respect Shabbat, as the president and prime minister did.”
In response to the criticism, the Likud Party issued a statement saying the press release had been issued by mistake.
“The Likud always protected the honor of Shabbat and was strict not to issue press statements during Shabbat, and we will continue to act as such,” said the party. “Issuing the statement an hour before the end of Shabbat was a technical mistake for which we are sorry.”