Ministers approve bill to allow Litzman’s return to Health Ministry
Legislation will enable UTJ head to serve as deputy health minister, effectively running things while avoiding responsibility for Shabbat issues
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The Knesset’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved on Sunday a bill that would pave the way for United Torah Judaism chief Yaakov Litzman’s return to the Health Ministry — as deputy minister, though effectively its head.
Litzman resigned as health minister in November in protest over train maintenance work performed on Shabbat. Since then government officials have been searching for a way of bringing the coalition partner back into the fold.
The UTJ head had previously served as deputy health minister with a minister’s authority between 2009 and 2013, and again in 2015. UTJ lawmakers avoided ministerial positions due to the ultra-Orthodox community’s reluctance to grant full legitimacy to a secular Jewish state.
But a High Court ruling in 2015 said deputy ministers could not fulfill the role of ministers, upon which Litzman received rabbinical approval to serve as health minister in the cabinet. After his resignation last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took on the portfolio.
The new bill would amend the state’s Basic Law: The Government, to allow a deputy minister to hold de facto authority in a ministry overseen by the premier, thus allowing Litzman to return to the post, with Netanyahu delegating control to him.
Litzman will not be a member of the cabinet, however, and thus will not bear responsibility for its actions on matters of Shabbat observance.
The Times of Israel Community.