After the dramatic resignation, Litzman with an unequivocal statement • Attacks Roni Gamzo: "He does not care about the ultra-Orthodox public" • The full interview tomorrow on "Shishvat"
Litzman.
"You can also work well from the position of a Knesset member" Photo: Arik Sultan
Earlier this week, Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman resigned from the government in protest of the planned closure during the holidays.
In an exclusive interview to be published tomorrow in the "Shishvat" supplement, Litzman sharply attacks projector Prof. Roni Gamzo, claiming that he deceived him and that the closure is the result of contempt for Israeli holidays and Jewish character and also declares unequivocally: "I will not be a minister in Israel again."
Litzman says in an interview about what happened that led him to resign: "It was at the Corona Cabinet meeting on Thursday. Aryeh Deri and Roni Noma reached an agreement on an outline for opening synagogues on holidays. There were all the rules - how many people can come by synagogue size, by city classification Like red or orange, and that was fine. We went out for an hour and a half break. When they came in, I brought it up for discussion, to make sure there was agreement on it and that it was final. Then Roni Gamzo, at the height of his impudence, said the synagogues would be open, but closed all cities across the country "Automatically become red cities. I shouted at him that he was a liar, that he had summed it up differently and that he was now changing his mind. At that second I called my assistant, I told him 'prepare a letter of resignation for me', thank you and goodbye."
Litzman says his resignation is not taken seriously.
"I'm not taken seriously even now when I resigned. I even hear people talking about my party members not taking me seriously, laughing at me, saying it's temporary, that I'll be back. All right, let them say."
Won't you come back?
"No".
That is, Yaakov Litzman will no longer be a minister in the State of Israel?
"No".
Is the Litzman era really over in the government?
"Look how many times you ask, you don't believe me either."
Are you ending your political career?
"No. I did a lot of things even without being a minister. You can also work very well from the Knesset position. In general, being a minister is something that received a one-time approval from the rabbis. It's in retrospect, and it's over. I will not be a minister anymore. I went, and it's over."
Litzman continues to attack Gamzo "For six weeks now I have been warning and warning that Gamzo is leading us to a closure just because it is convenient for him. He beats the ultra-Orthodox because it is the easiest for him and because he does not care about the ultra-Orthodox public." "So what happened all of a sudden? A closure had to be done a month ago when there were 2,000 patients, it would have prevented the increase to 5,000 infected a day and saved some of those who died."
The full interview tomorrow on "Shishvat"