Benny Gantz
Benny GantzYoni Kempinski

Outgoing Defense Minister and National Unity party head Benny Gantz addressed comments to haredi MK who will comprise part of the incoming government during the weekly National Unity party faction meeting Monday afternoon.

"My haredi brothers - the complete democratic, social, security and economic disaster that we are witnessing will gnaw at the very heart of the state as well as its Judaism. On the day when hotels will be announced for seculars only, on the day when workplaces will proudly announce that they do not accept haredi guests, on the day when an MK will be elected who will deny your right to live according to your customs, remember that you were part of the mechanism that established the precedent of harming minorities. that disintegrated us into tribes. I hope and pray we don't get there," Gantz said

"The price of turning Israel from a Jewish to a religious state will be harsh," he added, "and you will be harmed more than anyone else by these coercive and racist policies."

Addressing allegations made by some that Gantz would have given haredim "whatever they wanted" in return for joining a government headed by him, the Defense Minister said, "I would never have raised a flag of surrender on matters of state security, and I will never enable the dismantling of the people's army."

The haredi parties have demanded that the 'Grandfather clause' or 'Granchild clause' of the Law of Return, which allows anyone with one Jewish grandparent to attain Israeli citizenship even if they are not Jewish themselves, be amended.

The parties have also demanded that discrimination laws be changed so that separation of men and women at religious events and occasions would not be considered discrimination