The Knesset committee continues today (Thursday) with discussions on the 'Basic Law: Torah Study' and ahead of the votes on the reservations, amid disagreement between Degel and Likud.
While the Likud is interested in amending the proposal so that the law is merely declaratory, a senior Torah Banner official said today: "There was no coordination with us. We did not receive any instruction from the great men of Israel to compromise on the issue. To the extent that changes were made, this is a unilateral move, without our knowledge and without our consent.".
Yesterday, MK Moshe Gafni addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanded that the law be passed "as written and as worded" and that he "does not agree to any change in the wording of the law.".
The position of the Haredi parties is that Torah study should be anchored as a fundamental value with legal significance and not merely as a declaration of intentions.
And so, while the coalition is trying to reach last-minute agreements with the Haredi factions, they arrived at the committee hearing with a heavy hand demanding that they also be enshrined in law - and 'blow up' the discussion.
One of them asked those present if they had collected the bodies of their friends, and said that they were given bags and told to hurry before evening came - "because when evening falls, animals will come and start eating the parts of our best friends.".
He added: "We crawled on our knees and collected the parts of our friends one by one. I can't put anything in a bag today. I hope you don't know what I'm talking about.".
United Torah Judaism Chairman, MK Yitzhak Goldknopf, responded: "I hear you and my heart is saddened. Bring me a law and I will pass it. I will fight for it until the last drop of my blood. We have to give up many things for you.".
