"He deserves to be demoted from his position as party chairman," says UTJ MK Avraham Ravitz.
By MATTHEW WAGNERyaaco litzman serious298(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
MK Avraham Ravitz (UTJ) attacked MK Ya'acov Litzman, his faction's chairman, for not taking part in a meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Tuesday.
"He deserves to be demoted from his position as chairman for acting the way he did," said Ravitz.
"The entire faction decided to answer the prime minister's invitation to discuss diplomatic and security issues. But for some reason Litzman refused to show up."
Litzman said that his decision not to attend the meeting with Olmert was meant as a protest against what he called "the government's evil decrees against the yeshiva world" and its plans to "divide Jerusalem."
The meeting focused solely on diplomatic and security issues. Ravitz said Olmert assured the UTJ MKs that he did not support dividing Jerusalem. The prime minister refused to discuss fiscal issues that concerned the haredi MKs, such as cuts to the yeshiva budget.
Ravitz said the meeting was conducted amiably.
Although UTJ, which supports exemptions from military service for its male constituency, normally does not get involved with issues of security, recent talk of dividing Jerusalem under the auspices of a peace agreement with the Palestinians has aroused vocal dissent in haredi circles.
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