Chareidi Online Media Slam Litzman Over Barzilai

Israeli Chareidi online media outlets lambasted deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman this week  for the public outcry resulting from the delay in construction of the palnned rocket-proof emergency room in Ashkelon.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is apparently leaning toward retracting the cabinet decision from two weeks ago to shift the location of the proposed reinforced emergency room for Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center, following the public uproar and the recommendation of his office’s director-general, who reevaluated a cabinet decision to relocate the emergency room due to graves found at the site.

Meanwhile, chareidi online media outlets are expressing discontent over what is being described as an unnecessary battle that caused immense damage to the chareidi sector.

Litzman, a Gerrer Chossid from Yahadus HaTorah, had threatened to resign if the facility were not built on the distant parking lot instead of the nearby plot chosen four years ago. In a Tuesday meeting between Litzman and Netanyahu, the latter reportedly insinuated that the ER would indeed be built on the original site.

“Litzman received the backing of the chareidi dailies in the form of their silence,” said a fiery opinion piece in the online Kikar Hashabbos on Wednesday, and “aggressively and disgracefully exploited his power in a way that turned the entire nation against us… it is not the honor of the dead at stake here, but solely that of the deputy minister,” whose insistence “to safeguard the graves, while it was clear to [Litzman] and anyone who dealt with the topic that there is no halachic, ethical or moral problem, has brought a holocaust upon our heads that will take many years to amend.”

The Bechadrei Chareidim website also noted “the enormity of Litzman’s error,” which caused “horrible damage,” citing the “professional factors [who] proved that there are no Jewish graves” at the site, and noting that while Litzman’s fellow MKs in UTJ are compelled to support him, they are doing so “without much joy.”

The Lada’at site expounded on what is shaping into a serious political blow to Litzman, noting that “despite the support [Litzman] is receiving in his faction, not all members hold the same belligerent position which created this situation.”

According to Lada’at, “Senior factors in UTJ reiterated that despite the backing they gave Litzman, they don’t intend on quitting the coalition,” citing unnamed party members as saying that “[Litzman] will have to find the way to [back down from his demands], and obviously we won’t all pay the price.”

{JPost/Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}