Yair Lapid validates the Orthodox: "You detain the coming of mashiach"

The Knesset has once again tonight (Monday) turned into a stage of a tussle between Finance Minister Yair Lapid and the ultra-Orthodox Knesset members.

It happened during a discussion on a series of non-confidence proposals on economic and political, one of which was Yahadut Hatorah faction and she carried the headline: "incitement and harassment of the Minister of Finance towards the haredi public to hide the decrees imposed on the general public in the country and thus cause an increase in extremism amongst the people".

Lapid chose to respond specifically to this proposal, and said: "Before we talk about incitement, we call the Haredi press that secular girls are compared to prostitutes and this is before the Yated Neeman editorial which compared me to Hitler.

"I heard MK Gafni speak before with pain and pathos of the middle class - suddenly he's interested - there is only one thing that interests him. One should not deceive the Knesset with a kippa and beard. The problem is not that you're haredim, but you cause the Haredim a bad name."
"To tell the haredi public that all I want for him is to give him the rights as I want my daughter, my son and myself - that is incitement?

"There are no more privileges, no more bloated budgets. Nobody incites against you but simply returned the country to sanity."
"It says in the Ten Commandments: "Six days you shall work', not six days sitting in a yeshiva and someone else will pay the bills, not six days you will receive benefits, not six days work the secular morning to evening because they are the donkey of mashiach. We do not mashiach's donkey, we were the mashiach's donkey too many years. In 1979 84% of Haredi men worked, were your parents less orthodox than you? Were they were less observant than you? Did they believe in God less than you? Because to me it's the other way around, your parents, unlike you, followed the Rambam, who said - 'all the tasks on his heart will turn and do charity work and make a living. It is blasphemed."
"All we did was to go that way in which the Torah is not exempt from work, the Torah does not separate the Jews, but unites them. That is why we will invest half a billion for a five-year plan that would encourage them to go to work. That is why we gave up on the seniority marriage to encourage housing. Because we believe that the yeshiva budget cuts will not damage the Torah world. It means they go to work in the morning and learn Torah at night."

Lapid also said that, "those who divide people into good and bad detains mashiach. Whoever increases hate in Israel detains the coming of mashiach."
Shas chairman Aryeh Deri attacked the economic policies this afternoon: "I looked and looked in this budget. Maybe there is some polishing, some economic theory, genius, policies, and uniform line for these sectors. I do not have to agree and one does not have to hear my opinion. It is legitimate, everyone has his own agenda, but if I need to set the state budget title, so there is one criterion - where there's a little fear of fight, harm, some small bending - immediately give up."
Knesset without yeshiva students
Meanwhile, members of Hayadut Hatorah acted today to prevent the entry of the yeshiva students to the Knesset.

According to MK, the presence of Yeshiva students in the Knesset does not do good for the Torah world, certainly not when it comes up for discussion during the conscription law.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!