Religious Services Minister Matan Kahane supports Naftali Bennett and aims to expand the government: In an interview broadcast tonight (Saturday night) on the "Meet the Press" program on Channel 12, Kahane said that he is working behind the scenes to add additional parties to the coalition.
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""I think a coalition of 61 is not a good enough coalition," he said - hinting that he is also trying to bring the ultra-Orthodox parties into the government.
He said: "On the surface, they boycott me and call me 'Antiochus,' but underneath the surface, they know very well how to come and talk to me - whether it's politicians or great rabbis. I talk to everyone.".
Regarding his performance as Minister of Religious Services, Kahane confirmed that the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, refuses to speak with him - this is against the backdrop of the kashrut reform and the conversion reform that the minister is promoting.
He explained that although the kashrut reform will allow additional entities to serve as kashrut inspectors, the Chief Rabbinate will have the authority to decide which entities can receive the license and will serve as a regulator in the field.
""I am building my kashrut program to strengthen the Rabbinate," the minister said. "If the Rabbinate cooperates, the program will be better, but we are building the mechanism so that even if there is no cooperation, this program will be implemented.".
Regarding the conversion reform, Kahane said that the system will remain under the responsibility of the Chief Rabbinate, but the authority to convert will also be extended to city rabbis. He explained that he has no intention of promoting halachic easing of conversion, but rather to encourage conversion among those born to a Jewish father or grandfather and who are not recognized as Jewish from a halachic perspective.
United Torah Judaism chairman, MK Moshe Gafni, responded: "Matan Kahana is a delusional man. The most hated man in Haredi society after Bennett and Shaked - he invents inventions as if someone would enter a coalition with him. All of his statements on the matter are spurious and devoid of any basis. It was at the beginning of the journey that there were those who said that the Haredi would join, and he continues now with his idle statements that have nothing behind them, just a delusional man.".
