Minister of Jerusalem and Israeli Tradition, MK Meir Porush, met today (Tuesday) in his office in the Knesset with the United States Ambassador to Israel Thomas Neides.
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The meeting was attended by the Director of the Foreign Relations Department at Agudat Israel, Rabbi Aharon David Davis, and the Director of Political Relations at the US Embassy, Brian James Bruhaus.
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The ambassador emphasized the importance he sees in strengthening the connection with the Haredi public in Israel and with its representatives in the Knesset and government, and recalled with excitement his meeting with Maran HaGreig Edelstein during his visit to Bnei Brak.
During the meeting, the minister rejected attempts to interfere with the Jewish character of the Western Wall - telling the ambassador: "You don't want us to be harmed by the status quo on the Temple Mount. Don't expect us to allow the Reformers to change the status quo at the Western Wall.".
Porush referred to reports of displeasure among US administration officials with the composition of the new government: "When a prime minister with 6 seats served here, with the help of a narrow coalition built on the RPA, was that democratic in your opinion? So the current government, which has a solid majority of 64 seats, is much more democratic.".
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Minister Porush emphasized that ultra-Orthodox Judaism fully supports the legal reform led by Justice Minister Yariv Levin: "Judge Barak seized power 25 years ago, what happened then was undemocratic, the proposal now is to restore democracy. The majority of the people support the reform, and the Supreme Court justices 'earned' it honestly.".
The ambassador asked the minister to act as a moderating factor in the government, to prevent moves that would lead to an escalation in relations between Israel and the Palestinians. The minister replied that United Torah Judaism does not advocate confrontation for the sake of confrontation and in order to calm things down, but he sees no possibility of peace with the Palestinians, since they are not willing to recognize us as a Jewish entity.
At the end of the warm meeting, the ambassador and the minister agreed to meet again, in order to maintain fruitful and close cooperation between the American administration, the ministers of the new government, and representatives of the Haredi public.
