Hazani Resigns from Coalition Cabinet

Michael Hazani the Minister of Social Welfare, announced his resignation today, becoming the first National Religious Party Minister to leave Premier Golda Meir’s coalition Cabinet barely a month after it was formed. He resigned after the NRP’s Central Committee voted by a comfortable margin yesterday to remain in the government.

Hazani had proposed that the NRP leave the government temporarily, while continuing to support it in the Knesset, as a gesture of protest against the failure to resolve the Who is a Jew issue according to Orthodox demands. His proposal was rejected by the Central Committee. Hazani said today that he felt that “such problems are not solved by a voting hand.” He said he had a long talk with Premier Meir before announcing his resignation.

The NRP now has to fill his Cabinet seat. According to some observers, his most likely successor is Mrs. Tova Sanhedrai, a leader of the NRP’s women’s group, who would become the second woman ever to sit in an Israeli Cabinet. Mrs. Sanhedrai was not elected to the Knesset but Cabinet members are not required to be MKs.

Observers here said Hazani’s resignation might lead to the resignations of the other two NRP ministers–Yosef Burg and Yitzhak Rafael–from the Cabinet which could precipitate the break-up of Mrs. Meir’s coalition. Interior Minister Burg refused to comment on Hazani’s move but representatives of the party’s “Young Guard” who oppose the NRP’s participation in the government welcomed his decision. It was also welcomed by members of the Likud who saw in Hazani’s departure the likelihood that the Labor lea government would fall, leading to the establishment of a national unity coalition embracing Likud.