After minister quits, PM says deal ‘within reach’ on Shabbat train work

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said a compromise agreement was “within reach” on the controversial railway maintenance work carried out on Shabbat that had prompted an ultra-Orthodox minister to resign from the cabinet earlier in the day.

Netanyahu, speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, offered conciliatory words and praise of MK Yaakov Litzman, who tendered his resignation from the Health Ministry hours earlier.

“Shabbat is important to us, as are the needs of all of Israel’s citizens, including of course, the need for safe and continuous transportation,” Netanyahu said. “I believe we will find an intelligent solution… We will act so that together we can continue to serve Israel’s citizens.”

The prime minister said he “regrets” Litzman’s decision, but maintained that the resignation did not imperil his governing coalition.

“He is an excellent health minister and did much for the health of Israel’s citizens. The national government under Likud is the best government for Israel. I think all of the members of the coalition want it to continue. I don’t think; I know,” said Netanyahu.

Litzman, a leader of the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, officially stepped down earlier on Sunday in protest over the infrastructure work on rail lines on the Jewish day of rest. Though leaving his position, the six-MK UTJ party will remain in the coalition. Litzman’s resignation was to come into effect after 48 hours.

According to a report Saturday night on Hadashot news (formerly Channel 2), Netanyahu is planning to hold on to the cabinet position, rather than appoint a new minister, as he hopes Litzman may quickly return to the post.

After an ongoing dispute related to the installation of a new signaling system on a track in the Negev, Litzman notified Netanyahu on Friday that if the maintenance work was conducted on Saturday, he would resign on Sunday.

The work was carried out Saturday, with Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and Welfare Minister Haim Katz — who also serves as the state’s top labor regulator — insisting that delaying the maintenance work would have left the railway tracks less safe in the interim, and carrying it out during the work week would snarl traffic for days.

At the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu also offered condolences to Egypt, where a terror attack in a mosque in the Sinai Peninsula two days before killed over 300 people and injured over 500.

“The terror of extremist Islam doesn’t differentiate between religion, people, or peoples. What needs to be done is that all of the countries of the world unite to fight it, everywhere, including in Sinai,” he declared.

In his remarks, the prime minister also slammed what he described as the “hypocrisy” in Israeli attitudes towards incitement and criticism of elected officials, indicating that while media is quick to condemn attacks on those on the left, it remains silent when similar assaults are made on the right, including against the government.

Netanyahu was alluding to an uproar last week over photographs circulating online of President Reuven Rivlin in a Palestinian headscarf, drawing widespread condemnation.

“Last week I saw a tweet from the publisher of [left-wing daily newspaper] Haaretz, Amos Schocken,” Netanyahu said. “He referred to the government policy of deporting from the country illegal immigrants and the headline that Amos Schocken chose to tweet was ‘murderers in suits.’ That is how he labeled the prime minister of Israel, me, and several of the ministers sitting around this table,” said Netanyahu.

“I want to know what would have been the response if a comment like that was made about a public official from the other [left-wing] camp… In this case there was no response. No demands for an investigation, no demands for condemnation, no approaching public officials, no headlines, no special broadcasts. Nothing.”