Litzman vows to quit if there is High Holy Day lockdown
Litzman lashed out at coronavirus commissioner Ronni Gamzu for continuing to allow protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while considering steps limiting the religiously observant.
By GIL HOFFMAN, ALEX WINSTONYaakov Litzman at the weekly cabinet meeting, March 2020.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Construction and Housing Minister Ya’acov Litzman threatened on Friday that if a lockdown is placed on Israel during the High Holy Days his United Torah Judaism Party would consider resigning from the government.Litzman lashed out at coronavirus commissioner, Prof. Ronni Gamzu for continuing to allow protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while considering steps limiting the religiously observant.“Approving demonstrations on Balfour Street [outside the Prime Minister’s Residence], alongside opening cultural centers while continuing restrictions in synagogues and preventing travel to Uman destroyed public confidence in the system,” Litzman told the Hassidic newspaper, Hamodia.Gamzu responded to Litzman in an interview with the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, saying: “He does not see all of the people of Israel. He just sees one sector. I have an obligation to everyone. He has never understood this.”Sources in UTJ said Litzman was speaking only for himself and was not representing the entire party.But Coalition Chairman Miki Zohar said he was taking the threat seriously.“A solution must be found,” said Zohar, who sparred with Gamzu last week.
