Deputy Health Minister (Yahadut HaTorah) R’ Yaakov Litzman in a meeting with ministry director-general and other officials discussed the plan for expanding the Ashkelon hospital. Based on the information in hand, the deputy minister instructed the others that the graves in question may not be moved at present.

Litzman favors adopting a recommendation of Ra’anan Dinur, former PM Olmert’s bureau chief, who feels an alternative plan to expand the hospital can be implemented, a plan that does not demand moving the graves.

Litzman stated he favors the hospital’s expansion, a move demanded by southern district security threats and the need to enable the facility to better serve the area population.

Opponents to relocating the cemetery reject defamatory remarks aimed at chareidi rabbonim, accused of exhibiting more concern for the dead than the living. They explain that experts have already show beyond a doubt that the hospital’s fortification and expansion plans may be implemented without moving graves.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)