Litzman is assumed to have decided to fall on the sword of protecting High Holiday prayers and not the sword of an impending indictment that would have forced him to quit anyway.
By GIL HOFFMANYaakov Litzman at the weekly cabinet meeting, March 2020.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
In January 1997, former science and technology minister Bennie Begin quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet to protest the signing of the Hebron Accords.At the time, the resignation was downplayed. After all, it was just one minister – who wasn’t taking anyone with him – and the government would carry on regardless.But just five months later, former finance minister Dan Meridor also walked out.Similarly, Sunday’s departure by Construction and Housing Minister Ya’acov Litzman has been downplayed, although his United Torah Judaism party remains in the coalition and his aides will continue running the Ministry.The resignation is being downplayed even more, because while Begin was one of the cleanest politicians ever, police have recommended indicting Litzman for fraud, witness tampering and breach of public trust for allegedly interfering in the extradition proceedings of alleged pedophile Malka Leifer. In a second case, police recommended indicting Litzman for bribery.Litzman is assumed to have opted to fall on the sword of protecting High Holy Day prayers, and not the sword of an impending indictment that would have forced him to quit anyway. Defender of Rosh Hashanah sounds a lot better than defender of a pedophile.But when a domino falls, another, and then another, inevitably follow. Just as it is difficult to be the first to jump into cold water, it is hard to be the first to quit but after that, psychologically, it gets easier.Who might be next? It could be a minister that chooses to resign to make a political point and get noticed. It could be a minister from a haredi (ultra-Orthodox) party over another affront to Judaism, or a minister from Blue and White in protest of damage to Israeli democracy. Or just like Begin and Meridor, it could be a Likud minister who has either an ideological or a personal dispute with the prime minister.It also could, of course, be Netanyahu himself, who brings his own government down in an effort to force the timing of the next election to suit him best as he stands trial.Netanyahu said at his press conference on Sunday night that he hopes Litzman will return to the government, which was a reference to a past case when Litzman resigned from one of his governments and then came back but that put-down almost certainly ensures that Litzman will not return.Netanyahu said in the same press conference that when he is criticized, he remembers how in the IDF, he was shot at, yet he kept on fighting.“No matter what they say, I continue focusing on the target,” he said.Whether he will admit it or not, Netanyahu’s government has now been hit and the fight just got harder.
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