Less than a year has passed since the Minister of Construction and Housing, MK Uri Ariel, requested to meet with members of the Haredi factions in his office in the Knesset. That time, in early December 2013, they did not arrive.
The meeting was supposed to deal with the "housing crisis in the ultra-Orthodox sector," and it was canceled at the last minute, after the minister's people discovered that the ultra-Orthodox did not intend to attend.
This morning, MK Itzik Cohen revealed, during a discussion in the Finance Committee, that the Haredim were once again summoned to the same chamber. Cohen added that "it is forbidden to attend the meeting," while showering Minister Ariel with various "praises" regarding his attitude towards the Haredi public and the laws enacted against it.
The message received by the Haredi members of Knesset stated: "The minister is interested in meeting with all Haredi MKs before Rosh Hashanah to hear about hardships in the housing sector, and in particular in the public housing sector.".
The MKs will not attend. After all, they have long been claiming that the Minister of Housing and Construction pretends to be a friend, but in reality does not care about the Haredi and even gave his hand to anti-Haredi laws, including the draft law with the criminal sanctions included in it. "He betrayed the Haredi public the most," say the MKs. "The meeting is for public relations purposes in the media, we do not intend to attend.".
Nine months ago, the ultra-Orthodox factions were still hoping for his help, and they pretty much glossed over the fact that they had avoided coming to the meeting. MKs Yaakov Litzman and Israel Eichler provided a reasonable excuse for their inability to attend, while MK Meir Porush claimed that he was on his way - but then he was informed that the meeting had been canceled.
A senior official in the minister's office told me at the time that they had already learned in the afternoon that the ultra-Orthodox MKs were planning to leave. Their anger was great, as the minister had already invited the chairman of the Israel Lands Authority, Ben-Zechariah Lieberman, the director general of the Interior Ministry, Shuki Amrani, the director general of the Housing Ministry, Shlomo Ben-Eliyahu, and other senior officials from the Housing Ministry and the Israel Lands Authority to the meeting. All of them confirmed their participation, and only the invited ones themselves did not show up.
Some of them tried to attribute this to the anger of Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri over a tour of Mount Yonah in Nazareth Illit, to which Ariel invited MK Eli Yishai. On the day of the meeting itself, he even took a tour of Tel Zion accompanied by the Prime Minister, Rabbi Amar. According to them, it was Deri who gave the Shas MK an order: Don't go.
And what will be the explanation this time? How will they explain MK Cohen's words about boycotting the meeting? Well, it seems that this time they won't even provide explanations.
At the time, Shas MKs said that the issue was raised at the faction meeting, but no one ordered them not to attend the meeting. "But there were members who poured fire and brimstone on the idea," one of the MKs said at the time. All this before the true face of Minister Ariel was revealed, who a few months later supported criminal sanctions against Torah students.
Another MK explained at the time: "The Jewish Home has been fighting the Haredi public for eight months. The Knesset is enacting laws that have not been seen since the happy days of the Meretz government. And all in agreement with the Jewish Home, because they have the right of veto. Even on the issue of conscription, the end will be criminal sanctions, and with the support of the Jewish Home, no matter what they are declaring right now. So suddenly they invite us to a meeting in the minister's office? And why don't we meet him in the Knesset and talk?
""As things seemed to me and some of my faction members, it was a desire to gather us to 'take pictures' and distribute pictures in the media. We felt that we were being used. On the one hand, with the backing of the Housing Ministry, they are changing the construction plan in Beit Shemesh to high-rise construction, which automatically excludes Haredim from there, canceling a national priority area in Beitar Illit and Harish - on the other hand, they are using us for photos? This is unacceptable! A yeshiva student in a Zionist yeshiva receives 1,200 shekels, a guy in a Haredi yeshiva - only 280 shekels. And why are we supposed to be the setting for a show in the bureau?"...
The things are just as relevant today as they were then. In fact, much more so.
And as always, Nissim Ze'ev explained: "No one told me not to come, I'm free to do what I want, we're not a dictatorial party, at a quarter to four I was already in the car to go, but the minister's office called to cancel. I don't think the members intended to come, at least some of them, that's what I understood from the votes at the faction meeting, but there was certainly no boycott. There is definitely resentment against the Jewish Home. They can't clean their hands of all the incitement against the Haredi public.".
But the senior official in the Housing Minister's office insisted that Deri was to blame for everything. "If Deri's personal ego and revenge on the Housing Minister who toured with Rabbi Amar and last week in Upper Nazareth are important to him, then he will continue to help the Haredi public but without a meeting," he told me at the time. When I explained to them that it was unlikely that United Torah Judaism would not show up just because Deri would not allow it, they continued to insist. "He was the reason for the cancellation of the meeting," they promised, "A meeting will be held, but only for United Torah Judaism." This meeting, by the way, never took place.
Almost a year has passed. The minister's publicists are once again eager for a joint photo with the ultra-Orthodox MKs, but judging by their reactions - it seems that this will not happen this time either.
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