MK Moshe Gafne, who chairs the Knesset Finance Committee, launched an attack against MKs Avigdor Lieberman and Betzalel Smotrich in his address to a conference at the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Israel on Tuesday.

Gafne said he would not make statements like Smotrich who said he wants a halachic state. “I never said this, and I have seen many a coalition agreement of Yahadut Hatorah, and we never wrote or hinted at this, that Yahadut Hatorah wants a halachic state.

“Yes, there are those wishing to raise the issue of religion and state at any price, but our position is quite clear, to maintain the status quo, and this must continue. We want a Jewish democratic state, and we are not bringing the Beis Hamikdash or Moshiach with such statements or laws, and therefore, any expression of a state of halacha is incorrect. We have not asked and will not ask for a state of halacha. We are not asking for change, and certainly regarding the status quo”.

Gafne also discussed the issue of the separation of men and women, adding, “A woman comes and asks to make a simchas beis hashoeva for friends. She does not wish to have men, and then comes Dina Zilber, a Deputy Attorney General, and says she cannot. Therefore, I wish to say that I was born in Tel Aviv and I lived in Ofakim. You will not tell me or my wife how to live. Why does she think she can? Because I am chareidi? It will not happen!”

Gafne then went on to bash Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu party, explaining “when we speak of Lieberman, we are speaking of no confidence, lies, and hypocrisy. He lives with us, and it was almost all right, and he was almost a part of Yahadut Hatorah, and suddenly, without advance notice, everything changed. he does not harm the Torah world, but he harms the state, and he is a hypocrite and lies, and does not speak the truth. He places Israel in the position of a third world nation.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)