Against the backdrop of public uproar and reports of contacts toward a compromise with the chareidi parties on the draft law, Rav Avraham Stav has published a sharp response to the wave of criticism directed at Change Bloc voters and leaders from coalition supporters.
Opening his remarks, Rav Stav recalls the outgoing government's policy toward the chareidi public over the years: "For four years this government has given the chareidim everything. The Rabbinate, kashrus, private education, subsidised housing, transport discounts, yeshiva budgets. Every possible concession and every possible budget diverted in their favour. Every legal sanction on draft-dodgers and lawbreakers suspended for them."
Yet despite this reality, he says, a single media report by commentator Amit Segal about a degree of flexibility in negotiations on Avigdor Liberman's part was enough to trigger a major attack: "And now one report is enough for all the coalition supporters to jump up and demand that Change Bloc voters apologise and eat their hats. So no, I'm not apologising."
