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Israel’s ultra-Orthodox go to opposition, furious with PM-designate

Relegated to the opposition benches and about to lose both budgets and political influence, the ultra-Orthodox parties are angrily attacking Prime Minister-designate Naftali Bennett.
Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman gives a statement ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting, Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2020.

Leaders of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties mounted a furious, unrestrained attack on Naftali Bennett on June 8, with Minister Yaakov Litzman of the United Torah Judaism party accusing the prime minister-designate of “disgracing” the yarmulke he wears and demanding he remove it.

Litzman accused Bennett of forming a radical left-wing government lacking moral values. He warned that the so-called government of change would annihilate Israel’s Jewish identity by allowing liberal conversions to Judaism, imposing the military draft on ultra-Orthodox men instead of allowing them to dedicate themselves to Torah study, allowing civil marriage and public transportation on the Jewish Sabbath and recognizing the Reform stream of progressive Judaism.

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