Porush: Sa'ar doesn't agree with me
Photo: Avi Moalem
Porush moves office to prison protest tent
Deputy education minister says his superior tried to prevent him from moving office to protest area outside prison where Emmanuel parents being held. 'Public asking why they were jailed; are they criminals?' he wonders
Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush began work Sunday in a new temporary office – in a protest tent outside Maasiyahu Prison in Ramla.
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"The Likud has sentiments for such volatile issues," he said of the education minister's objection. "Sa'ar turned to me this morning and asked, just a moment before I came here, not to go. He very obviously does not agree with me."
Porush explained he would only spend part of the parents' sentence in his makeshift office. "My schedule does not allow me to be here two full weeks," he said.
Porush in protest tent (Photo: Avi Moalem)
The parents have been jailed for refusing to send their girls to school in Emmanuel, as the High Court had ordered. An additional 22 mothers refused arrest, and the court is scheduled to decide their cases Sunday.
"Much of the public does not understand why parents are being sent to jail like this. Are they thieves? Criminals? Murderers? Has anyone thought that maybe these mothers need to breastfeed or give birth?" he wondered.
Porush's affiliates have stressed that the funds required to move his office come from United Torah Judaism and not the Education Ministry. The party is scheduled to have its faction meeting there Monday.
Earlier Sunday MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) visited the parents, and said upon exiting the prison that it was unfortunate for people who had committed no crime to be placed behind bars.
"The High Court decision lacks all common sense, and exists nowhere else in the world. The Education Ministry and the prime minister should have taken care of this issue; it is entirely outside the realm of the court's authority. Woe is us if we allow the court to affect such educational issues," Gafni said.
He said he, as part of the governing coalition, was also to blame, and added that such "anti-haredi" decisions would never have occurred during the previous education minister's term. "Today it is a great stain on Israel," he said of the court's ruling.
