Transportation Minister and senior United Right member Bezalel Smotrich sparked controversy with remarks he made at a conference of rabbis in Jerusalem, Monday.
"We are not in disagreement … We all, if we could, would like the State of Israel to act according to the Torah and Jewish law. We just can't because there are other people who think differently, and we need to get along with them. But we often encounter supposed contradictions that can be mitigated without needing to pay a price."
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Smotrich began by saying, "I believe that with care and attention, we can solve a majority of the problems. No doubt, one of the hot potatoes at the Transportation Ministry is work on Shabbat – infrastructure work, the train, the Yehudit Bridge [in Tel Aviv]. And it seems to me that, just like we know how to have an industry that is sustainable without polluting the atmosphere, we know how to have a modern state that must lay out infrastructure on a grand scale – without violating Shabbat."
Smotrich emphasized, "It's true, it demands care and attention. From the outset of the process, no one decided that the Yehudit Bridge needed to be engineered so that we need to close the Ayalon Highway for three consecutive days.
"If the Shabbat was an important value, then .… [the planners would know] this needs to be taken into consideration from the first stage."
He continued: "This is true regarding the question of whether we close a road or not. Roads are closed for competitions and marches, roads can also be closed in order to lay a bridge on a weekday. When there are will and attention, both can be done. There is not always a contradiction."
Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Lieberman blasted Smotrich for the remarks.
"It is unbelievable how, yet again, without blinking, we hear Minister Smotrich declare that if it were up to him and his friends, they would cancel the laws in the State of Israel and force a state governed by Jewish law on us that operates only according to Torah law."
He added, "We've got news for you: You won't need to get along with us because on Sept. 18 [the day after the election], a broad nationalist, liberal government will be established without you and without all those trying to force a state on us that is governed by Jewish law."
Responding to Lieberman's criticism, Smotrich said, "It was because of baseless hate that Jerusalem was destroyed. How sad that at the height of the days of mourning of Bein ha-Metzarim [the three weeks leading up to Tisha B'Av], there are those among us who remind us of the terrible rift that led to nothing more than hate."
"This morning, it was [Blue and White party leader Yair] Lapid, and this evening, it's Lieberman. They tell me, 'give it back to him,' but I remind myself why I am not fixing my beard, avoiding eating meat and following other mourning practices. I will not fall into this trap. Not at this time."
Smotrich concluded by saying, "I suggest and ask that everyone before they are influenced by the hatred and categorization, watch the full clip of my speech at the Beit Hill conference of rabbis. Therefore love truth and peace."
Blue and White party chief Benny Gantz took to Twitter to assert that "Smotrich wants a state governed by Jewish law. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu will give it to him in return for immunity."
In a statement, the Democratic Union said, "These are the people who the suspect from Balfour [Street in Jerusalem, where the Prime Minister's Residence is located] has given the keys to run the state, and all so that they can rescue him from the terror of the law. We must win the coming election. A loss would mean Smotrich turning the State of Israel into a state that is governed according to Jewish law, in return for immunity from Netanyahu's prosecution."
Smotrich once again responded to the criticism, saying, "The things I said are called consideration for other sectors of the public. This is a democracy. I am not prepared to have a sector trampled on because of my beliefs – not the haredim, not the secular. I am also prepared for a variety of opinions to be voiced even if they are not my own. All of this is missing from Lieberman's and Lapid's discourse. Look at all of my remarks and not a quarter of a sentence."
